The third time was the charm for the Boyd-Buchanan boys’ basketball team Saturday afternoon.
After twice rescheduling their key District 5-A game with Arts & Sciences due to weather, the Bucs finally took the court for their senior-day game. Coach Cole Rose wasn’t quite sure how his team would respond to the emotion that comes with the recognition of seniors, but after a bit of a slow start, they secured a 54-42 victory that keeps Boyd-Buchanan unbeaten in district play.
“Senior night is always unpredictable, but overall I was pretty pleased,” Rose said.
“They handled it about as well as they could. It’s one of those things that you can’t practice for, because you’re only a senior once. But once they got into the flow of the game, they were fine.”
With school called off much of this week due to snow, both teams had to cancel or reschedule games and practices, and neither looked sharp to start the first quarter Saturday. But by the end of the period, Boyd-Buchanan had found its rhythm, something that usually happens once the Bucs start finding each other.
“Offensively, we were hitting the extra passes, penetrating, and looking for our teammates,” Rose said. “I thought we got a little more solid on defense, and started rebounding the ball a little bit better.”
Boyd-Buchanan took a 15-9 lead into the second quarter and used a 9-0 run, capped by one of Colby Arendale’s three 3-pointers, to pull away. The Bucs led 31-20 at the break, and although CSAS fought back to get within eight on back-to-back baskets from sophomore Todd Lansden in the third quarter, the Patriots could get no closer the rest of the way.
Austin Walker, who was honored before the game for surpassing the 1,000 point mark for his career, responded immediately on the other end, and another 3 from Arendale helped the Bucs end the third up 47-34.
Arendale’s final 3 came early in the fourth, and he finished with a team-high 13 points as Boyd-Buchanan closed out the 12-point victory. Walker followed with 12 points for the Bucs (19-2, 5-0).
Lansden, who was playing through a stomach virus Saturday, and Brandon Houston led the Patriots (16-7, 3-2) with eight points apiece. Although disappointed with the loss, coach Mark Dragoo said he saw some encouraging signs of improvement from his young team.
“We’re discouraged that we lost, but encouraged that there were areas that we focused on and improved on,” he said. “The effort was there; it just wasn’t always executed as well as we wanted it to be.”
CSAS will host rival Grace Academy on Tuesday, while defending champion Boyd-Buchanan will finish out its district schedule with games against Silverdale Baptist and Copper Basin this week, and Grace the following week.
“There’s still a lot of district basketball to be played, and we really have to stay focused down the stretch,” Rose said.
(E-mail Jaime Barrett at jaimenbarrett@gmail.com)
BOYD-BUCHANAN 54, ARTS & SCIENCES 42
Arts & Sciences 9 11 14 8 -- 42
Boyd-Buchanan 15 16 16 7 -- 54
CSAS (42) -- Carter 5, Moorer 4, Hamilton 5, Brown, Graves 6, Houston 8, Moore 6, Lansden 8.
Boyd-Buchanan (54) -- Allen 6, McMillan 9, Cox, Austin Walker 12, Jenkins 8, Colby Arendale 13, Nason 2, Macon 4.
3-point goals: CSAS 1 (Carter); Boyd-Buchanan 3 (Arendale 3).