Post-season basketball provides excitement and thrills unlike the rest of the season, but there are also times when teams face elimination when they lose. You know, win and keep playing or lose and call it a season.
That was certainly the case at Boyd Buchanan’s Tom Jett Gymnasium Tuesday evening as the district runner-up Bucs were hosting Lakeway Christian, a talented team that finished third in their district.
The Bucs have played some really great basketball in recent weeks as they’ve hit their stride after a host of early-season injuries. They lost a two-pointer to Notre Dame in last week’s district final, earning the right to host a first-round game in the region.
Unfortunately, the season ended for the Bucs on Tuesday after the visiting Lions walked out with a 46-42 victory.
The Lions improve to 18-7 while Boyd Buchanan finishes an outstanding season at 16-12.
Boyd Buchanan coach Josh Templeton really didn’t know what to say when the game ended and he was still searching for the right words to share with his team after his post-game media interview.
“Such a disappointing finish. We were there at the end, but we just didn’t play well,” he began with his usual quiet tone.
“We’re devastated and hurting right now as we aren’t used to this, but I just hate for our guys that it had to end like this. I don’t know why, but I felt like we looked tired and just didn’t play like we’re used to playing, but one game doesn’t define our season.
“Their number 4 (Shajai Jackson) was hard to contain as he had a big game, but it seemed like he would hit a big shot every time we made a run. We had several guys who played really well tonight like Jacob Shockley, Nathan Miller and Carter Wamack, but it was tough game and an even tougher loss,” Templeton added.
Lakeway coach Curtis Staples had nothing but good things to say about his kids and the team they faced on the road.
“That was a nail-biter for sure, but we’ll take it,” Staples said as he exited the Lion dressing room and headed for the team bus.
“It wasn’t easy as Boyd Buchanan is really disciplined and well coached, but we didn’t panic when they made that last run and I’m most proud of that because that hasn’t been the case all year.
“I thought they did a great job as a team, but we can’t hang onto this too long as we have a big game with Concord Christian on Friday.
“Shajai is a tough kid who was our main guy offensively tonight, but I was happy with his decision making as he really did a nice job for us. We played well tonight, but I just hope we can keep it going,” he said in conclusion.
The Lions had a 4-3 lead after the first quarter while the score was tied at 18 for intermission.
With Shockley scoring four straight points in a 6-0 Buc run midway through the third quarter, the home team equaled their biggest lead of the game at 26-23 with 3:19 left before the Lions finished the quarter on an 11-3 run for a 34-29 lead with eight minutes remaining.
Malachi Jim-Lawson scored on a putback to start the final stanza, giving the Lions a 36-29 lead before the Bucs turned up the pressure and scored five straight points.
Lakeway then scored eight straight points for its biggest lead at 44-34 with 2:38 to play and things started looking iffy for the home team.
But much like other games this winter, the Bucs rallied with one of their patented comebacks only to come up a bit short.
Wamack swished a 3 from the corner to cut Lakeway’s lead to three at 44-41 with 47 seconds to play and he added a free throws 12 seconds later to make it a two-point game.
Ryan Lopez grabbed the offensive rebound on Wamack’s miss on the second shot, but the tying or potential winning shot never fell for the Bucs.
Joseph Masolo had a steal on an inbounds play with 11.8 seconds to play and quickly dished the ball off to Jackson, who got fouled.
He had made two of four charity tosses at that point, but swished the final two to seal the win for the Lions.
Wamack took a last-second 3 for the Bucs, but it was blocked as the horn sounded.
Jackson, just a sophomore, finished the game with 30 points to lead the Lions while Colby White followed with nine.
Shockley had a big game for the Bucs and finished with 18 points, but was the only Boyd Buchanan player in double figures.
The Bucs also had an unofficial 32-29 advantage in rebounds as Shockley and Lopez both grabbed seven and Cooper Jones six. Jim-Lawson was tops for Lakeway with eight rebounds while Jackson had six and Masolo five.
SCORING SUMMARY
LAKEWAY CHRISTIAN 4 14 16 12 -- 46
BOYD BUCHANAN 3 15 11 13 -- 42
LAKEWAY CHRISTIAN (46) – Francois, Lane, Shajai Jackson 30, Jim-Lawson 2, Masolo 5, White 9, Whitaker, Briggs.
BOYD BUCHANAN (42) – Miller 4, Johnson 7, Moore, Wamack 4, Lopez 4, Jones 5, Nolan, Shockley 18.
3-POINT GOALS: Lakeway 5 (Jackson 4, White); Boyd Buchanan 4 (Shockley 2, Wamack, Jones).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)