The Burnet High School boys basketball team crushed Taylor 70-47 Jan. 16 after losing to Salado 62-55 Jan. 13 in District 244A play.
Taylor (13-10, 1-3) got the start they wanted thanks to a reserve hitting three 3pointers in the first half. In all the Ducks nailed six 3-pointers in 16 minutes.
Still, the Bulldogs (16-10, 3-2) answered back to take a 25-20 lead into the half. They broke the contest open in the second half when they overwhelmed the Ducks led by senior forward Braven Briant, who knocked down a 3--pointer “on the first possession to put us up by eight,” assistant coach Carter Carruthers said.
”I think we grew it to 14,” he said. “We came out on a 9-0 run before they scored, and that was huge for us because it just felt like our kids started playing with a lot of joy and confidence. They’re like ‘OK, let’s settle in, we’re OK’ and then grew it to around 17 to 20 by the end of the third.”
Because of the gap, coaches substituted freely and gave extended minutes to reserves that allowed the starters to rest.
”It’s good to have those opportunities and it’s good to let some other guys get some run because you never know when it’s going to be important moments and we need them to come make plays,” Carruthers said. “And so they got those live reps.”
Four Bulldogs were in double figures led by seniors Jaxon Sparks, J.J. Whigham and Eli Pickens, who scored 19 points.
”He had a heck of a game,” Carruthers said. “He was real decisive with the ball, played dominant, kind of went back to how he was playing before we went on (Christmas) break, which is good. We need that version of him if we’re going to be the best version of ourselves. We need that version of Eli, and so that was good to see.”
The contest against Salado (20-5, 4-0) can be summed up in one statistic, Carruthers said.
Burnet took a 14-6 lead thanks to the 3point shooting of senior guard J.J. Whigham and limited the shot attempts of Salado sophomore shooting guard Ke’Koa Rose, who averages around 25 points a contest.
”We had a game plan based on what we’ve seen them do,” Carruthers said. “And it worked early – it was perfect.”
The Eagles responded by closing the gap to 14-11 going into the second quarter though they couldn’t get their outside shooting going. So they began to draw fouls. The result was attempting 16 free throws in the first half and dropping in 15 en route to outscoring the Bulldogs 18-10 during that quarter for a 29-24 advantage at the intermission.
By the end of the third quarter, Salado led 49-40. For the contest, the Eagles made 24 of 25 free throws, while Burnet was 5 for 8.
”It was a really competitive game. We lit it up early,” Carruthers said. “They adjusted what they did and we played a long game of chess. They were doing a good job of getting fouled and getting to the line and making them.”
Though Burnet made more two-point and three-point field goals, the discrepancy in free throws was the difference.
”Credit to them making them when they got there,” the coach said. “They got downhill, got to their spots and drew fouls. That was, I guess, part of their game plan. But (Rose) didn’t hit a single three against us. We could not play without fouling inside and they got there and made their foul shots. And we could not get fouls.”
Though the outcome wasn’t what they wanted, the Bulldogs exited believing they can produce a different outcome in the rematch.
”With the confidence our kids gained from realizing that they can go over there and have them on the ropes and you’re good enough to beat them,” he said. “You are good enough to go beat those guys, and so our kids boasted their confidence from that, so we took good things from that.”
The first round of district play ends this week. The Bulldogs will enjoy a bye Tuesday, Jan. 20, before welcoming Lampasas with the junior varsity one playing at 5 p.m., junior varsity two at 6:15 p.m., and the varsity at 7:30 p.m.
Jennifer Fierro publishes reports about area youth athletic events on her website TexasChalkTalk.com. To send her a note, email fierrojennifer@ yahoo.com.
