Broncos battle Auburntown’s Knights: Boyd’s boys win, girls fall in pair of one-point games
Monday night Auburntown traveled to Boyd Christian for two barn-burners in elementary basketball action. Boyd split their two games, with the Lady Broncos falling to the Lady Knights 32-31 and the Broncos slipping past Auburntown 28-27.
In the first game the Lady Broncos jumped out to an early lead with 10 points in the first quarter. Boyd’s solid defense held the Lady Knights to four points in the period. In the second quarter Auburntown turned the tables and played aggressive defense which created many turnovers from the Lady Broncos. Auburntown’s Ashley Kennedy hit a long range 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Lady Knights a 16-14 lead at the half.
In the third period Lady Bronco Courtney Hard tied the game 16-16. Both teams exchanged baskets over the next five minutes of play, but Auburntown out-scored the Lady Broncos 8-5 in the period to take a 24-19 lead by the end of the quarter. Boyd closed the gap mid-way in the fourth period with baskets from Emily Newby and Abby Surles, and brought themselves within a point (30-29) with 1:28 left in the game.
Auburntown drove the ball downcourt and ran as much time off the clock as possible, before hitting for two with 28 seconds left in the game. Boyd took the ball on offense and drove down court with seven seconds left, and Lyndsey King scored to keep things close, but the Lady Knights put the ball in play and drove downcourt as time expired to take the win.
For Boyd, Surles had 11 points, Hard tallied eight, Newby six, King five and Hannah Taylor added one point.
For The Lady Knights, Erica Melton had 13, Kennedy seven, Ashley Reiter six, Amy Reed five and Nicole Smith added one.
In the second game Boyd pushed the ball in the first half against a smaller Auburntown team, and Andrew King helped the Broncos to a 9-5 lead in the first period.
In the second quarter the Knights’ Randy Toombs worked his way inside the paint as he helped Auburntown to 11 points in the period. Boyd slowed the pace in the second quarter and managed seven points in the period, as they tied the game at the half 16-16.
In the third period both teams struggled with turnovers, and neither team could capitalize on the offensive glass. Boyd found the basket for only four points in the period but it was enough for a 20-19 edge as Auburntown had three points.
In the fourth the game was tied 24-24 with 1:38 left. King went to the foul line for Boyd and hit two shots as Boyd took a 26-24 lead. Jay Reed tied the game for the Knights with 1:07 on the clock, then with five seconds left King hit a lay-up to give Boyd back the lead 28-26. Boyd fouled and with no time left on the clock sent Auburntown’s Justin West to the line. West hit his first attempt making it 28-27 and sent his second shot in and out of the rim to give Boyd the win.
Leading the way for Boyd was King with 13, while Ryan Phillips five and Jonathan Hagar had four points. Austin Cleek, Ben Biles and Marek Sadlon had two points each.
For Auburntown, Toombs had 12, Reed six, Daniel Young five, West three and Mathew Kress added two points.