Boyd-Buchanan Boys Advance With Win Over Marion County

Cade Evans Leads Buccaneers To 59-52 Victory Over Warriors

  • Tuesday, February 24, 2015
  • John Hunt
Cade Evans (12) of Boyd Buchanan puts a three pointer as Marion County's Logan Gonzales (3) fronts him on defense. Evans led both teams with 22 points in the 59-52 Buccaneer win. The Bucs now move on to play Van Buren County in the Region 3-A semifinals Wednesday night at South Pittsburg, pending weather conditions.
Cade Evans (12) of Boyd Buchanan puts a three pointer as Marion County's Logan Gonzales (3) fronts him on defense. Evans led both teams with 22 points in the 59-52 Buccaneer win. The Bucs now move on to play Van Buren County in the Region 3-A semifinals Wednesday night at South Pittsburg, pending weather conditions.
photo by Dennis Norwood

The Boyd-Buchanan Buccaneers lived to play basketball for at least one more game.

 Playing in front of a near-capacity crowd at their own Tom Jett Gymnasium, the Buccaneers improved to 12-16 with their 59-52 win over the Marion County Warriors.  The Bucs advance to the Region 3-A semifinals against Van Buren County on Wednesday at South Pittsburg, weather permitting.

But in a game where the winner keeps playing and the loser calls it a season, the Bucs played well in spurts.  The Warriors also played well in spurts, but the hosts had just a few more spurts than their visitors from Jasper.

"I'm really proud of these guys as they fought so hard, but we had to limit their offensive rebounds as they were just pounding the board," said Boyd-Buchanan coach Zach Roddenberry after his team had prevailed.

"We have a bunch of young guys on this team, but we're getting there.  We've done a good job of coming back this year, but I'm just glad we got to play.  As a whole, I felt like we played pretty well," he added.

Marion County coach Chuck Keef certainly didn't fault the effort of his team, but the Warriors have practiced just twice in the last nine days and it showed.

"I thought it was an ugly game as we gave away too many opportunities by not attacking the rim.  We made a push at the end, but just couldn't seem to get over the top.  I felt like we were a little rusty, but at times, we played pretty well," he expressed.

"We had only practiced twice since the District tournament and we were off because of it, but it's hard to have that much time off this time of year.  Give Boyd-Buchanan credit as they handled our runs well in the second half," Keef added.

Kane Hale scored seven of his 13 points in the first five minutes as the Warriors raced to a 12-5 lead, but the Buccaneers rallied to score 11 of the last 13 points for a 16-14 lead when the first quarter ended.

Logan Gonzales scored on a putback before Matt Harveston sank two free throws in the first minute of the second quarter to give the Warriors an 18-16 lead, but the guys in purple never led again as the Buccaneers responded with seven-straight points to go ahead, 23-18, with just over two minutes remaining in the half.

The Bucs took a 25-23 lead into the dressing room at intermission.

The third quarter may have been a key to Boyd-Buchanan's win as the Bucs scored eight of the first 10 points for a 33-25 lead with 4:32 showing following a short baseline jumper from Josh Antwine.

A 3 from Cooper Hodge with 1:23 left in the third pushed the Buccaneer lead to a dozen at 41-29 with one quarter remaining.

It looked like the Bucs might cruse to victory, but the Warriors had other ideas as they opened the final stanza with nine straight points to trim that lead to 41-38 with 6:31 to play following a baseline drive by Gonzales.

Marion got within three points on two more occasions -- the last at 55-52 on a putback by Hale with 28 seconds remaining -- but Antwine converted a layup and Rylie Walker two free throws at the end to seal the deal for the Bucs.

 Sophomore Cade Evans led the way for the Bucs with 22 points as Boyd-Buchanan placed four players in double figures.

Walker was next with a dozen while Antwine and Hodge both finished with 10 each.

Harveston scored 20 to lead the Warriors, including nine points in that frantic fourth quarter when he was playing most of the time with four fouls.

Hale was next with 13 while Ty Heifner and Gonzales were next with nine and eight points, respectively.

Marion County had a 36-33 edge in rebounding with Harveston snagging nine and Heifner seven.  Parris Clarke didn't score any points for the winners, but he snagged seven rebounds and had three steals and two blocks in 23 minutes of action.

While Boyd-Buchanan keeps playing, the Warriors end their season at 10-17.

MARION COUNTY  14  9  6  23  --  52

BOYD-BUCHANAN  16  9  16  18  --  59

MARION CO. (52) -- Phillips, Gonzales 8, McClain 2, Harveston 20, Downs, Heifner 9, Hale 13.

BOYD-BUCHANAN (59) -- Walker 12, Evans 22, Antwine 10, Hodge 12, Rogers, Jackson 3, Macon 2, Clarke.

3-POINT GOALS: Marion Co. 2-9 (Harveston, Hale); Boyd-Buchanan 6-16 (Walker 2, Evans, Hodge 2, Jackson).

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@Comcast.net)

Boyd Buchanan's Ryle Walker drives the baseline against Matt Harveston (11) of Marion County. Walker scored 12 for the Bucs, while Harveston led the Warriors with 20.
Boyd Buchanan's Ryle Walker drives the baseline against Matt Harveston (11) of Marion County. Walker scored 12 for the Bucs, while Harveston led the Warriors with 20.
photo by Dennis Norwood
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