PHILIPPI – The Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers used a huge third quarter to pull away from the home-standing Philip Barbour Colts Saturday night.
The Bucs owned a 29-28 lead at the half and used a 7-0 run to start the third quarter and built a 15-point lead in the quarter before settling on a 66-58 victory.
Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Travis Foster said the message at halftime for Bucs heading to that huge third quarter was, “Who are we?”
“The way we played last Wednesday against Elkins wasn’t us,” stated Foster. “We had talked the last couple of days just who we were as a team. We needed to find a way to get our fire and fight back in the game. I asked them if this was going to be a team that lays down and or we going to get our mojo back and start fighting. We finally showed a lot of fight in that third quarter and the second half.”
The Bucs, who were without senior guard Harrison Walker who is still trying to recover from an injury, saw Lamar Hurst lead them with 19 points while Sterlin Thropp added 17.
Sophomore Jaden Westfall came off the bench for six points and 10 rebounds in 21 minutes of action.
“I am just focused on rebounding,” stated Westfall. “Coach Foster wants me in there to grab that rebound so that is what I am trying to do. I didn’t know I had 10. I was just out there playing the game.”
“Jaden is extremely dialed in,” added Foster. “He breathes basketball. It may not look like it at times, but our goal is to work it inside. As he has progressed this season, we feel we can play him and Hurst together. We are now seeing him starting to score, getting some key rebounds and gaining that confidence. He works well with Hurst. A lot of the stuff he is doing for us doesn’t show up in the stat book like screening for Hurst and just hitting the backside for rebounding.”
Hurst sank a free throw to give the Bucs and early 8-5 lead with 2:17 remaining in the opening stanza but the Colts outscored B-U 13-7 the rest of the quarter for an 18-15 advantage heading into the second period.
Cody Cooper started the second quarter with a basket in the paint to give the Colts their biggest lead of the game, at five points at 20-15.
Down 24-20, Shawn Blandino made two free throws, Hurst launched in a three-pointer and Thropp scored on a lay-up capping off a 7-0 run and returning the lead back to the Bucs, at 27-24.
The Bucs owned a 29-28 lead at the intermission.
Buckhannon-Upshur started the third quarter on a 7-0 run behind Hurst scoring from underneath then draining a three and Oliver King scoring on a putback to put the Bucs up 36-28.
Up 36-31, a 6-0 run behind baskets from Thropp, Westfall and Mason Hyre gave the Bucs a 42-31 advantage with 4:10 left in the third quarter.
Leading 42-35, Buckhannon-Upshur closed the quarter on an 8-0 run after getting baskets from Hyre, Thropp, Westfall and Zach Calef-Boring.
That gave the Bucs their biggest lead of the game, at 15 points, at 50-35.
A free throw by Thropp kept the Bucs up 13, at 63-50, with a minute remaining, before the Colts ended the game on an 8-3 run.
Freshman T.D. Bodkins led the Colts with 19 points while Caden Hawkins added 15 and Kaden Humphreys 12.
The Colts dropped to 3-14 on the year while the Bucs evened their record at 8-8.
The Bucs will be back in action Monday visiting North Marion for a 7:30 p.m. tip.
The boxscore:
Buckhannon-Upshur 15 14 21 16 – 66
Philip Barbour 18 10 7 23 – 58
Buckhannon-Upshur 66
Lamar Hurst 7-10 2-3 19; Sterlin Thropp 6-13 5-8 17; Shawn Blandino 2-6 2-2 6; Mason Hyre 3-9 0-0 6; Jaden Westfall 3-5 0-2 6; Zach Calef-Boring 2-4 1-2 5; Ian Strader 0-1 5-6 5; Oliver King 1-2 0-0 2; Carter Zuliani 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-50 15-23 66.
Philip Barbour 58
T.D. Bodkins 7-13 4-6 19; Caden Hawkins 4-8 7-7 15; Kaden Humphreys 5-11 0-0 12; Cody Cooper 3-8 0-0 8; Brayden Cole 1-4 0-0 2; Donovan Thomas 1-2 0-0 2; Jesiah Matlick 0-5 0-0 0; Liam Mayle 0-1 0-0 0; Jayden Herron 0-0 0-0 0; Ethan Floyd 0-0 0-0 0; Clint Auvil 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-53 11-13 58.
Three-point field goals – Buckhannon-Upshur: Hurst 3-3; Calef-Boring 0-1; Thropp 0-1; Hyre 0-3. Totals 3-8; Philip Barbour: Humphreys 2-5; Cooper 2-7; Bodkins 1-3; Mayle 0-1; Herron 0-1; Hawkins 0-2; Matlick 0-2. Totals 5-21.
Rebounds – Buckhannon-Upshur: Westfall 10; Thropp 8; Calef-Boring 4; Blandino 3; Hurst 3; King 3; Strader 3; team 2; deadball 2; Zuliani 2; Hyre 1. Totals 41; Philip Barbour: Hawkins 5; team 5; Matlick 4; Bodkins 4; Humphreys 3; Mayle 2; Cole 2; Cooper 1; Thomas 1. Totals 27.
Assists – Buckhannon-Upshur: Hyre 5; Thropp 2; King 2; Hurst 2; Blandino 1; Westfall 1; Strader 1. Totals 14; Philip Barbour: Hawkins 4; Humphreys 3; Cooper 3; Cole 1; Bodkins 1. Totals 12.
Steals – Buckhannon-Upshur: Calef-Boring 1; Thropp 1; Hyre 1; King 1; Hurst 1; Strader 1. Totals 6; Philip Barbour: Humphreys 2; Cole 2; Hawkins 1; Matlick 1; Mayle 1; Cooper 1. Totals 8.
Blocked shots – Buckhannon-Upshur: Hurst 1. Totals 1; Philip Barbour: Cooper 1. Hawkins 1. Totals 2.
Turnovers – Buckhannon-Upshur: 17; Philip Barbour: 15.
Personal fouls – Buckhannon-Upshur: 17; Philip Barbour: 23.
