CSAS Gets Defensive In Win Over Boyd-Buchanan

Patriots Record First Win In District 5-A With 65-48 Victory

  • Friday, December 9, 2016
  • John Hunt

High school basketball is still in the early stages of the 2016-17 season, but CSAS coach Mark Dragoo is already seeing improvement from his team and they’ve only played four games.

The Patriots are always a good team with lots of quick, athletic players who can shoot well and play sticky defense.

That was the case on Friday night at Boyd-Buchanan as the Patriots shot well and played that sticky defense and the result was a convincing 65-48 victory over the Buccaneers in the first district game of the year for both teams.

CSAS is now 3-1 overall and 2-0 in District 5-A while the Buccaneers are now 3-4 overall and 0-1 in district play.

The Patriots love to play that pressure defense that forces bad shots, silly turnovers and quick layups on the other end.  They had a couple of runs like that against the Bucs and it was more than the home team could handle.

“This is always a hard place to play, but we played better than we did last week against Silverdale,” said Dragoo shortly after the final horn sounded.

“Our defensive pressure was better as it did a good job of complimenting our offense, but we were able to force some turnovers and some easy buckets and that was nice.  We also played better together as a team and that was a key in addition to our defense.  It wasn’t as good as I would have liked, but it was good enough for tonight,” he added.

Cade Evans, who led the way for the Buccaneers with a dozen points, scored his first two on a drive on the wing midway through the first quarter to give Boyd-Buchanan a 4-2 lead.

By the time teammate Max Walker scored on a drive down the lane almost four minutes later, the Patriots had scored 13 unanswered points and we well on their way to victory.

Evans scored on a layup at the buzzer to draw the Bucs within seven at 15-8 when the first stanza ended.

A 3 from the key by Darius Graves in the waning seconds of the second quarter allowed the visitors to take a 30-17 lead into the dressing room at the half and it never got any closer.

Eli Evans bagged a 3 from the corner with 6:57 left in the third quarter, but another run of nine unanswered points extended the lead to 20 and that was the difference when the third stanza ended.

The biggest lead for the Patriots was 24 points at 49-25 following a layup by T.J. Pulliam with two minutes left in the third while the biggest lead in the final eight minutes was 22 points on three occasions, the last being after a 3 from Jameel Dodds with 2:14 to play for a 65-43 advantage.

The Bucs then scored the final five points to close the final gap wot 17.

“I really don’t have anything good to say as we just weren’t good enough to win tonight,” said Boyd-Buchanan coach Daniel Gilbert afterward.

“They whipped us on the boards.  It’s hard to win when you have a bunch of turnovers and you don’t rebound well, but those guys did a good job of pressuring us and penetrating the lane against our defense.  We gave up way too many offensive rebounds and I can promise you that we don’t practice that way.  But we just had a bad game tonight,” he added.

Graves scored 11 points to lead CSAS while Miguel Hamilton and Dodds both followed with nine points apiece.  Jordan House, a scrappy 6-3 senior who Dragoo praised for great work off the bench, finished with seven points and 10 rebounds.

Evans had 12 points to lead the Buccaneers while Matt Serven had nine.  Riley Covington and Thomas Baker both finished with seven.

Walker had eight rebounds for the Buccaneers while Will Emrey snagged six as the Buccaneers had an unofficial 38-32 edge on the glass.

CSAS GIRLS 29, BOYD-BUCHANAN 26: This game certainly won win many style points, but the Lady Patriots were happy as they pulled out their first win of the season with a strong effort in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Bucs had a 19-15 lead going into the fourth stanza and even extended the difference to 24-15 before the Lady Patriots came back.

Lennex Walker sank two free throws with 1:34 to play to break the 26-26 tie while Jaida Harris had another with six seconds remaining to put a little icing on the cake.

Walker had 15 points to lead the CSAS girls, now 1-3 overall and 1-1 in district play, while Sheridan Randolph had nine for the winners.

Laney Bone also had 15 for the Lady Bucs, but didn’t have much help as Tate Gardenhire was next with three points. 

Boyd-Buchanan is now 1-7 overall and 0-1 in district play.

GIRLS SUMMARY

ARTS & SCIENCES  4  7  4  14  --  29

BOYD-BUCHANAN  4  8  7  7  --  26

CSAS (29) – Hampton, Le. Walker 15, La. Walker 4, Harris 1, Randolph 9, Mayes, Justice.

BOYD-BUCHANAN (26) – Bone 15, A. Taylor 2, Hill 2, M. Taylor, Balthrop 2, High 2, Gardenhire 3.

3-POINT GOALS: CSAS 1 (Randolph); Boyd-Buchanan 1 (Gardenhire).

BOYS SUMMARY

ARTS & SCIENCES  15  15  24  11  --  65

BOYD-BUCHANAN  8  9  17  14  --  48

CSAS (65) – Clark 7, Alegre 1, C. Edwards 4, Hamilton 9, Dodds 9, Sterling 6, Graves 11, House 7, H. Edwards 3, Pulliam 6, Morris 2.

BOYD-BUCHANAN (48) --  C. Evans 12, Edmondson, Walker 4, Gilley 3, E. Evans 4, Covington 7, Baker 7, M. Serven 7, Oliver, Beavers 1, Baubach, Emrey 1, C. Serven.

3-POINT GOALS: CSAS 5 (Clark, Hamilton, Dodds 2, Graves); Boyd-Buchanan 1 (E. Evans, M. Serven).

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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