Editor’s note: Every week, the My Buckhannon sports team will select one highly-anticipated contest as our Game of the Week. This week, we picked B-U hosting Riverside in a non-conference contest.

TENNERTON – The Riverside Warriors had no answers for slowing down Buckhannon-Upshur senior guard Harrison Walker in their non-conference contest Monday night at the high school gym.

Walker poured in a game-high 24 points including hitting five three-pointers in the Bucs’ 64-47 victory.

Walker torched the Warriors’ 2-3 zone during the contest.

“Riverside stayed in that 2-3 defense for a while and it just let me shoot lights out,” stated Walker. “They just gave me too many open looks in that defense.”

Walker led the Bucs in scoring coming into the game averaging 17.4 points per game, something he credited to the Warriors’ defense being concerned with the offensive play of teammate Lamar Hurst.

“I think teams initially thought they could double-team Lamar, but that isn’t the case anymore,” stated Walker. “They double-team him and that leaves me wide open. Then, if teams start to double-team me, that leaves it open for him. It’s hard to guard both of us.”

“Harrison can shoot the ball,” remarked Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Travis Foster. “He was the guy that we were looking for tonight. He was a little under the weather tonight, but to get 31 minutes from him and 24 points is pretty special. He is a special kid.”

The Bucs shot the ball well, hitting on 52 percent of their field goals (26-for-50).

“We did a good job of attacking their zone and luckily, we were able to knock down our shots,” stated Foster. “It made it difficult for them to defend us staying in the 2-3 as we brought them out of it a time or two, which we took care of business when they switched out of it as well.”

Buckhannon-Upshur never trailed in the contest as they raced out to a quick 7-0 lead just two minutes in behind a putback from Hurst, a three-pointer by Walker and a lay-up from Sterlin Thropp.

Walker drained a trey to wrap up the first quarter as the Bucs took a 15-9 advantage into the second stanza.

The Buckhannon-Upshur defense, which was flying around to the ball all night and forced Riverside into 23 turnovers, limited the Warriors to just six points in the second quarter.

“Playing defense and turning teams over is sort of our game,” noted Foster. “We aren’t a great offensive team. I think we have the chance to be, but right now, our defense is really dictating our offense. The energy that our defense brings makes it fun to watch. Our defense is what is saving us right now. The way we can pressure the ball has saved us several times this season.”

Up 18-15, the Bucs ended the second quarter on an 8-0 run behind a Walker three-pointer, an old-fashioned three-point play by Hurst after he was fouled on his lay-up basket, and Walker drove the lane for a lay-up at the buzzer as the Bucs took a 26-15 lead with them into the half.

A 6-0 run early in the third quarter behind a pair of baskets by Shawn Blandino and a lay-up by Ian Strader treated the Bucs to a 36-19 advantage with 5:12 remaining in the third-quarter.

A three-pointer by Walker gave the Bucs their biggest lead of the game to start the fourth quarter, at 22 points, at 51-29.

A 9-0 run by the Warriors made it a 51-38 contest and Riverside was able to close the deficit down to 11, at 55-44, with 3:23 remaining, but a monstrous dunk by Hurst put the Bucs back ahead by 14, at 58-44, and the Warriors were never able to get closer than 14 points during the final two minutes of action.

Hurst added 21 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds in the win for the Bucs.

Blandino added nine points and Strader six.

The win improved the Bucs to 5-1 on the year.

Braydin Ward had a team-high 18 points for Riverside, who dropped to 1-5 on the season.

The Bucs will be back in action Wednesday as they visit the Parkersburg Big Red in a non-conference game.

The tip for the contest will be 7:30 p.m.