Boerne Champion held off a late charge from the Boerne High boys basketball team last Friday at Greyhound Gym as the two District 26-5A teams met for the first time this season on the hardwood.
The Chargers were leading by as many as 19 points in the third quarter, but the Greyhounds made a comeback and sliced the lead to three points by the fourth quarter, however Champion had enough gas in the tank to finish the game with a 55-50 victory.
With Friday’s win, Champion improved to 10-6 overall and 1-1 in district, while the Greyhounds fell to 9-8 overall and 2-1 in district.
The Chargers hosted Pieper on Tuesday and the Greyhounds were on the road Tuesday at Alamo Heights.
After that, the BISD schools will help co-host the district’s holiday tournament scheduled for Dec. 29-30.
Chargers coach Chris Adamek said he knew the Greyhounds would mount a comeback at some point during the game that was played before a packed gym.
“They had a great second half and really pressured us. We got a little quick on offense and they hit some shots and started getting to the rim,” he said. “They’re a good team and we’re a young group, this is the first rodeo for a lot of these guys. I’m just real proud of these guys, it was a fun battle tonight.”
The Greyhounds only scored 7 points in the first quarter and 8 in the second for 15 points at halftime, and Greyhounds coach Kimble McHone said the slow start hurt them. McHone added that the packed crowd may have affected his team.
“When you shoot 5 of 16 in the first half you’re going to put yourself in a hole. We had two guys that played in this game last year; everybody else is brand new. We looked like deer in the highlights a little at the beginning but settled down,” he said. “I’m proud of the guys, they battled the whole time. We changed defenses and got some stops. We were just too far in the hole.”
Champion was up 10-7 at the end of the first quarter and from there the Greyhounds struggled in the second stanza and only tallied 8 points – all from Jay Aldridge – while the Chargers heated up in the second and tallied 18 points and nailed three 3-pointers from three different players, Gavin Peck, Travis Clark and Reid Reddy and Champion took a 28-15 lead into the halftime break.
The Chargers stretched the lead to 19 points in the third quarter, but that’s when the Greyhounds started their comeback. BHS switched and went with a man-to-man defense, and it gave the Chargers some problems, while they started hitting shots.
Noa Sanchez nailed three 3s in the third and added another in the fourth for the Hounds, while Slade Salinas got to the rim in the fourth quarter and tallied 6 points.
Boerne’s Julien Hartman hit a 2 pointer with 3:30 left, and it was a 3-point game at 50-47, but Charger Nik Georgelos answered with a 3-pointer with 2:25 on the clock and the lead was back up to six points at 53-47.
After that, the closest the Greyhounds could get was four points on a couple of occasions as the Chargers hit three 3s and added two free throws from Peck in the quarter to keep Boerne at bay.
Peck made his last free throw with 11 ticks on the clock to make it 55-50 after the Greyhounds missed their last shot.
Adamek said they’ll take the win.
“Anytime you can go on the road and get a win, it’s a big deal,” he said.
McHone said they have to forget about this one and get ready for the Mules.
“It was a great comeback, but we’ve got to move on to the next one,” he said.
Travis Clark led Champion with 21 points, Peck added 12, Reddy scored 8, Georgelos tallied 6, Ryan Gallardo had 4, while Nick Plummer and Will Kliesing hit for 2 each.
Noah Sanchez paced the Greyhounds with 15 points, all from 3-point range, Aldridge added 12 points, Hartman netted 8, Salinas scored 6, Ty Reynolds had 5 and Bo Pape had 4.
The BHS vs. CHS rematch is scheduled for Jan. 26 at Champion.
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