ELKINS – A rough third quarter dashed any hopes the Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers had of securing a win on the road against the Elkins Tigers.
The Bucs were down just three at the half, at 24-21, but after a Sterlin Thropp lay-up to start the third quarter, Elkins went on a 20-3 run for a 44-26 advantage and went on for a 63-47 victory over the Bucs.
The Bucs trailed by as many as 27 points in the fourth quarter before ending the game on an 8-0 run to make the final score a bit more respectable.
Elkins entered the game ranked fifth in Class AAA.
B-U had just one lead in the game after a Mason Hyre three-pointer put the Bucs in front by a 9-8 count with 4:29 showing on the first-quarter clock. A Thropp lay-up put the Bucs down by just two at the end of the first quarter, at 13-11.
Down 21-15, the Bucs went on a 6-0 run behind a basket by Thropp and two straight baskets by Hyre, deadlocking the game at 21-21 with a minute remaining in the half.
Elkins’ Andy Shifflett nailed a baseline three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Tigers a 24-21 advantage at the intermission.
Lamar Hurst led all scorers with 21 points while Thropp reached double digits with 14 for the Bucs.
Malachi Watson paced Elkins with 18 points as the Tigers improved to 13-3 on the season.
The Bucs dropped to 7-8 on the year. They will return to action Saturday at Philip Barbour with the game starting at 7 p.m.
The boxscore:
Buckhannon-Upshur 11 10 9 17 – 47
Elkins 13 11 26 13 – 63
Buckhannon-Upshur 47
Lamar Hurst 9 3-4 21; Sterlin Thropp 6 2-4 14; Mason Hyre 3 0-2 7; Harrison Walker 2 0-0 4; Zach Calef-Boring 0 1-2 1; Shawn Blandino 0 0-0 0; Oliver King 0 0-0 0; Jaden Westfall 0 0-0 0; Ian Strader 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 6-12 47.
Elkins 63
Malachi Watson 7 1-3 18; Tanner Miller 3 8-8 15; Cory Harper 5 3-4 14; Jayden Shreve 4 2-2 10; Andy Shiflett 1 0-0 3; Addison McCauley 1 1-2 3; Max Jackson 0 0-0 0; Austin Harris 0 0-0 0; Aaron O’Neill 0 0-0 0; David Gongola 0 0-0 0; Jacob Bender 0 0-0 0; Jackson Bragg 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 15-19 63.
Three-point field goals – Buckhannon-Upshur: Hyre 1. Totals 1; Elkins: Watson 3; Shiflett 1; Miller 1; Harper 1. Totals 6.
Fouls – Buckhannon-Upshur: 14; Elkins: 15.
Free throw percentage – Buckhannon-Upshur: 6-for-12 for 50.0 percent; Elkins: 15-for-19 for 78.9 percent.
