COTTAGE GROVE – The Sutherlin boys basketball team fell behind early and never could catch Cottage Grove as the Lions pulled away Tuesday night for a 50-37 victory that knocked the Bulldogs into third place in the Sky-Em League.

Cottage Grove was led by Blake Sentman with 30 points, including three 3-pointers and 13-15 at the free-throw line.

Marshal Warmouth was the only Sutherlin player to reach double figures with 11. Bowen Briggs and Mason Gill both had 9 points each.

The Bulldogs got behind 21-6 after a quarter and battled back to within nine at halftime. Sutherlin cut the Lions lead down to three at one point in the third quarter, but the Cottage Grove offense came alive and increased their lead to 11, 40-29, after three quarters.

The Bulldogs fall to 6-3 in the Sky-Em League and 15-8 overall and drop to third place, one game out of first. They will finish the league season at home against Sweet Home Friday night. Sweet Home won its first conference game Tuesday night beating Elmira 62-58.