The CSAS Patriots haven’t played as well as their coach Zach Dragoo thinks they’re capable of playing, but they put forth an outstanding effort on Saturday afternoon at Boyd Buchanan’s Jett Gymnasium and headed back to Third Street with a hard-earned 60-58 win as their reward.
With the win, CSAS improves to 16-6 overall while the Buccaneers are now 11-10 for the season.
“What a great game between two pretty good teams,” said Dragoo immediately after the game ended.
“I challenged them at the half as we had to answer the bell. It’s been a struggle at times and we’ve had more than our share of ups and downs, but I think we responded today.
“I thought that Louis Bell was a monster inside and Jarious Cameron was cool under pressure. And Trent Grudzinski is a pretty good shooter when we can convince him to do so, but it was a great team effort and I’m really happy.
“We can’t afford to be satisfied, but I feel like we’re headed in the right direction. But anytime you come over here and win a game in this gym, you’ve done something. And to think that we play them at our place next week, we just have to keep working to keep getting better,” Dragoo added.
Boyd Buchanan coach Josh Templeton knows that his team took more than their share of lumps early in the season as a host of his players were injured at the start. Most of those guys are back and things are starting to click for the Bucs, but they just weren’t quite able to get over the hump on Saturday.
“We can’t afford to come out and be lethargic, which we did at the start, but I challenged them and they made a nice comeback. We were a little sloppy at first, but we able to come back and take the lead at halftime,” Templeton expressed afterward.
“CSAS has a really good team. They made their free throws at the end and they hit some big shots. We made a few defensive mistakes and didn’t make quite as many plays as they did, but this is the kind of game that will get you ready for the post-season tournaments.
“We have three big games next week, including playing them at their place on Friday, so it should be interesting, but we’re getting better and I couldn’t ask for any more effort than they gave today,” he added.
Louis Bell was the go-to guy for the Patriots as he scored the first four points and finished with a game high of 24.
Ryan Lopez sank a 3 from the baseline with 4:23 left in the opening stanza for a 5-4 Buccaneer lead. CSAS then scored six straight points for an 11-5 lead and enjoyed a 16-9 lead at the first break after Trent Grudzinski scored the final five points in the last minute.
Another 3 from Grudzinski to start the second stanza extended the CSAS lead to 10 and it was still 10 points at 27-17 after Jarious Cameron sank a pair of free throws with 3:32 left before the break.
Boyd Buchanan then scored 11 unanswered points for a 28-27 lead at intermission.
Evan Ramsey scored midway through the third quarter to give CSAS the lead at 34-32 and the Patriots never trailed again.
The Bucs stayed within striking distance as the biggest lead for the Patriots in the second half was six points.
Boyd Buchanan had a chance to tie the score in the final minute, but Jacob Shockley only made the first of two with 38.2 seconds to play to get the hosts with a point at 55-54.
The Patriots then sank five of six charity tosses for a 60-54 lead with 22.7 seconds left.
Brodie Johnston and Ryan Lopez both hit one free throw to make it 60-56 before Jaylon Moore scored on a putback at the buzzer for the final two-point difference.
Bell had a double-double with his 24 points and 10 rebounds as CSAS had an unofficial 23-22 edge on the boards. Grudzinski was next with 15 while Cameron finished with eight.
Cooper Jones was one of four Boyd Buchanan players in double figures as he finished with a dozen points. Shockley was next with 11 while Moore and Lopez both ended the day with 10 each.
Jones also grabbed six rebounds while Nathan Miller snagged five.
BOYD BUCHANAN GIRLS 71, CSAS 29: This game was never close as the Lady Bucs bolted to a 13-0 lead at the start and had 21-7 lead when the first quarter ended en route to a 42-point victory.
A 22-0 run to start the second period made it 43-7 before Niya Houston broke the streak with a 3 for CSAS. The difference was 40 at 62-22 when the final quarter started and the mercy rule was in place with a running clock.
Dani Reeves and Sarah Durham set the pace for Boyd Buchanan, now 16-5, with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Eva Winston was next with nine while Jalisa Sanders and Kamille DeLoach both finished with eight.
Macie Meyners and Houston both had 11 points to lead CSAS.
GIRLS SUMMARY
ARTS & SCIENCES 7 3 12 7 -- 29
BOYD BUCHANAN 21 24 17 9 -- 71
CSAS (29) – Stinson 2, Macie Meyners 11, Wright, Niya Houston 11, Phillips, Singh, Clark, Whiteside, Benn 4, G 1.
BOYD BUCHANAN (71) – R. Robertson 4, McFarland 3, Winston 9, Jal. Sanders 8, Sarah Durham 16, Jad. Sanders 2, DeLoach 8, Dani Reeves 17, J. Robertson, Burton 4.
3-POINT GOALS: CSAS 6 (Meyners 3, Houston 3); Boyd Buchanan 8 (McFarland, Winston, Jal. Sanders 2, Durham 2, Reeves 2.
BOYS SUMMARY
ARTS & SCIENCES 16 11 12 21 -- 60
BOYD BUCHANAN 9 19 8 22 -- 58
CSAS (60) – Gaines 2, Pride 3, Cameron 8, Trent Grudzinski 15, Brown 1, Wright 2, McFarland, Louis Bell 24, Ramsey 5, Lowry.
BOYD BUCHANAN (58) – Jaylon Moore 10, Wamack, Ryan Lopez 10, Cooper Jones 12, Johnston 3, Nolan, Jacob Shockley 11, Miller 5, Johnson 7.
3-POINT GOALS: CSAS 6 (Pride, Grudzinski 3, Bell, Ramsey); Boyd Buchanan 3 (Lopez, Jones, Johnson).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)