The winning just continues for the Boyd Buchanan Buccaneers.
Fresh off their district championship win over Notre Dame at Silverdale on Friday night, the Bucs went back to work at home on Monday where they faced the King’s Academy Lions in the first round of the region tournament in the friendly confines of Jett Gym.
The Bucs were ready to play and it showed as they sank their first five shots and had an 11-0 lead in the first two minutes before cruising to a 72-39 victory. The Bucs improve to 24-5 with their 15th straight win.
It wasn't a very positive day for other Chattanooga teams in this league as they all lost.
Notre Dame got eliminated by Grace Christian by a 63-50 final while Christian Academy of Knoxville eliminated Silverdale, 46-31. And Lakeway Christian ousted Collegedale by a 75-56 final.
Boyd Buchanan coach Matt Hoppe could only smile when the final horn sounded.
“That’s what I was hoping for, but you never know what will happen at this point as there are a lot of teams capable of winning,” he began while members of his team mingled with family and friends afterward.
“We hit our first five shots and played really good defense as we made it tough for them to shoot. But I thought we played well as we shot well and did a nice job of sharing the basketball. But we just have to keep playing well as it only gets harder from this point forward. And if we can win the region, we’ll be back to play one final game here for a berth to play at state,” he added.
It wasn’t the way the Lions had dreamed their season would end, but first-year coach Dion John Hunt didn’t do anything but praise his team for another great effort.
“That was a tough loss,” Hunt expressed shortly after the game ended.
“That’s a good team over there as they went on a big run to start the game. We struggled with their full-court pressure. They ran away at the start, but we were able to come back in the second and third quarters. But they completely dominated the first and third quarters and that was the difference in the game,” Hunt added.
Hudson Jones and Caleb Hardaway both swished 3s in the first minute. Jones followed with a layup and Caleb Nunez a three-point play as the hosts had an 11-0 lead with 6:18 left in the opening quarter.
P.K. Hodari scored on a layup with 3:33 remaining to get the Lions within 10 at 14-4 before the Bucs finished the quarter on a 6-0 run – including two buckets from Asa Fortune – for a 20-4 lead at the first break.
The Lions never recovered.
Alan Lopez sank a 3 with 2:30 left before intermission for Boyd’s biggest lead of the half at 35-10 before King’s Academy scored the final seven points to make it just a bit more competitive.
Boyd’s attack didn’t back down as the Bucs scored the first six points of the second half. Luke Lusk sank a 3 at the end of the third as the difference was 52-30 with eight minutes remaining.
The margin only continued to grow. Nunez sank five of six free throws in the final 1:17 as the Bucs had their biggest lead of the game – 33 points – at the very end.
The Bucs had balanced scoring as Nunez had 18 while three other teammates were also in double figures.
Hardaway was next with 16 while Jones and Lopez added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Dominic Muobike paced the Lions with 13 points while Jovis Erwan was next with nine.
Boyd Buchanan also had an unofficial 26-24 advantage in rebounds as Fortune snagged seven and Hardaway six for the Bucs. Muobike and Erwan both had seven for King’s Academy.
The Lions finish their season at 13-15.
KING’S ACADEMY 4 13 13 9 -- 39
BOYD BUCHANAN 20 15 17 20 -- 72
KING’S ACADEMY (39) – Erwan 9, Hall 3, L. Tucker 3, C. Tucker, Hodari 7, Dominic Muobike 13, Horvatic 4.
BOYD BUCHANAN (72) – Wamack 2, Johnson 3, Fortune 9, Lusk 3, Caleb Nunez 18, Alan Lopez 10, Hudson Jones 11, Caleb Hardaway 16.
3-POINT GOALS: King’s Academy 2 (Hall, L. Tucker); Boyd Buchanan 7 (Lopez 2, Johnson, Fortune, Lusk, Jones, Hardaway).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)