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After being fouled on the play, Bulldog senior Strat Roy watches his bucket fall through the hoop during a third quarter shot. Roy also made the free throw giving his team a 38-29 lead with four minutes left in the third. Unbelievably the Dawgs only managed three points for the remainder of the contest falling short 42-41 in the end. Wayne Craig/Clear Memories -
Freshman Reese Syphrett puts in two points. Syphrett also got the and-one on this play and cashed in at the stripe as well. The Bulldog freshman squad had an awesome night from long range and Syphrett led all scorers with 23 points in a 51-24 win. Syphrett hit six of the Dawgs 10 three-pointers scored against Salado. Wayne Craig/Clear Memories
The Bulldogs played in two district games last week, both on the road. Burnet traveled to Gateway on Tuesday followed by a road trip on Friday to Salado. For the varsity team both games were big, with Friday’s holding a share of the district crown on the line.
Both sub-varsity teams were defeated by Gateway on Tuesday night. The freshman fell short, 52-35, and the JV lost, 54-40.
The varsity team earned a 59-56 win in a hard-fought game that moved their district record to 5-1. Strat Roy stole the show offensively with a gym-leading 23 points. He hit four three-pointers, three two-point field goals and was five-of-seven from the line.
Luke Kiser was next on the chart with 19 points. He was followed by Joseph Fitzsimmons, seven; Lawson Lucky, six; and Josh parker, four.
On Friday in Salado the freshman boys won big, 51-24. Reese Syphrett was the leading scorer with 23 points. He made six three-pointers in the game. Jacob Atkinson was next with 13 points, followed by Jacob Koenig, six; Caden Cavanaugh, three; Parker Martinez, three; Will Johnson, two; and Dax Stevens, one. As a group Burnet’s freshman did work from outside the arc hitting 10 long range shots versus Salado.
The JV boys came up short, 57-21. Lane Murphy was the leading scorer with nine points. He was followed by Andrew Tyler, five; Will Lewis, three; Vance Pennington, two; and Moses Solis, two.
The varsity boys took to the court in Salado for the third match-up of the night. The game was a big one. A Salado win and the undefeated Eagles would most likely sail to a district championship. A Bulldog win would have earned Burnet at least a share of the district crown and knotted them for first in 19-4A play.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth battle with the Eagles holding a slight advantage at the buzzer, 14-13.
Grant Jones kicked off the second with a deep two-point field goal giving Burnet a 15-14 lead. Each team exchanged buckets before Burnet’s crowd went wild after a Lawson Lucky steal led to a Kiser three giving the Dawgs a little cushion, 20-16 mid-way through the second. Off the hands of Kiser, the Dawgs kept their lead and widened the gap to as much as nine. The Eagles chipped away at that down the stretch but a Roy buzzer beater at the half had team green on top, 28-23 at the break.
The Dawgs added 12 points to the score in the third. Kiser contributed some free-throws, Bennett popped a three-pointer, Roy stood his ground for an excellent and one bucket, and Lawson chipped in a short jumper. With just one minute left in the third the Dawgs were up 40-31. The Eagles scored five before that minute ran out including a long three right at the blunt With eight minutes to play it was Burnet on top, 40-36.
The fourth was hard to watch and even harder to play through for the Dawgs. Minutes ticked away with no offense for Burnet. At the 5:21 mark Salado tied things up while standing at the charity stripe, 40-40. Burnet didn’t post any points in the first six minutes of the fourth. They missed four straight freethrow as well with their first, and what turned out to be their only point of the fourth, coming by way of a Kiser freethrow with 1:49 remaining. At that points Salado led, 42-41.
With just seven seconds on the clock the Dawgs were fouled on a defensive rebound, but their offensive troubles continued as the front end of the one-and-one bounced off the rim. Burnet secured the offensive rebound and took one last desperation shot from outside the arc, but it missed it’s target as well leaving the Dawgs one-point short, 42-41.
In the final nine minutes of play Burnet only scored one point. As a team they went seven of 16 from the foul line with seven of their nine misses happening in the fourth quarter alone.
Kiser led Burnet’s scoring with 21 points. He was followed by Roy, nine; Lucky, four; Bennett, three; Jones, two; and Fitzsimmons, two.
The Dawgs hosted Taylor on Friday for their final home game of the season. They will be at Lake Belton on Friday, Feb. 5 and Jarrell on Tuesday, Feb. 9.
