GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - The annual Gridley Invitational Basketball Tournament was played this past weekend. The tournament started on Thursday, Dec. 12 and ended on Saturday, Dec.14.

This year marked the 70th year of the tournament and spans between three days with teams from across California. The teams who played this year consisted of Salseian (Richmond), Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco), Branson (Ross), Clayton Valley Charter (Concord), Clovis North (Fresno), Destiny Christian (Sacramento), and San Ramon Valley (Danville). All of these teams were champions in one way or another or made a deep run in the playoffs last season so it was beyond safe to say that the Bulldogs would be testing themselves against high competition.

The Bulldogs would start the tournament against the Salesian College Preparatory Pride and not much would go right for the Bulldogs. Salesian would explode to start the game as they scored 24 points and held the Bulldogs to only 11 in the first quarter. Salesian would repeat that trend in the next two quarters as they scored 27 in the second, and 21 in the third while holding Gridley to just 14 points for the rest of the game. The final score would be 76-25 and the Bulldogs would start the tournament off with a loss.

On the second day, the Bulldogs played the Destiny Christian Academy Lions and while they played a little better in this game, the Lions would still have their way against the Bulldogs. The Lions would pick apart the Bulldog zone defense specifically in the third quarter as they rained down open threes. While the offense got going better than the first game for the Bulldogs, it was not enough against the Lions as they won the game 59-36.

The Bulldogs would play in the 7th place game against the Branson Bulls and once again could not do much. The Bulls would consistently score while also holding the Bulldogs to under 10 points in each quarter. The Bulls would win the game 63-28 and the Bulldogs would take the 8th place spot in this year's tournament.

In front of a packed house, the championship game would be played between the Salesian Pride, and the Archbishop Riordan Crusaders. The game would be exciting to watch as each team traded baskets and stellar defensive plays. The Crusaders would end up winning the game in the final minutes 52-51.

The Bulldogs will look to put this tournament behind them as they play in the Colusa tournament starting on Thursday, Dec. 19 against the Williams Yellowjackets (after press time).