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The Briarwood Buccaneers fell to the visiting Brentwood Eagles 70-55 in basketball action Jan.24.
“Foul trouble really hurt us in the first half, and we had to take our leading scorer out for a while,” head coach Bo Fleming said after the game. “That’s just the way it goes some nights.”
Brentwood jumped out to an early lead in the first period, and held that lead for much of the period. Three successful three-point shots by Spencer Hadden helped the Bucs gain the lead, however, and Briarwood led 20-15 at the end of the first period.
“We knocked them out of the zone real fast with those three-pointers by Hadden,” Fleming said.
“They were in the zone and we got some open shots,” Hadden said after the game. “But they switched to man-to-man after that.”
Brentwood regained the lead in the second period, outscoring Briarwood nearly two-to-one, and the Bucs trailed at the half, 34-30.
Briarwood was unable to regain the lead in the second half. Despite the Bucs’ adding 10 points in the third period, Brentwood still held the lead by 11 points at the end of the third. The score remained in Brentwood’s favor throughout the fourth period, and the final buzzer saw the Eagles victorious with a score of 70-55.
“It just wasn’t our night,” Fleming said following the game. “We’ve played those guys tough for four years and haven’t been able to beat them, and I’d hoped tonight would be the night, but it just didn’t turn out that way.”
Ryan Pritchett was the leading scorer for the game with 12 points, and Tyler Daniel and Dalton Reese each had 10 points.
“We did the best we could,” Reese said after the game. “We thought we’d have them after half-time, but they came back.”
Spencer Hadden had 9 points for the game, Colt Phelps totaled 6, Spencer Wood ended the game with 4 points, and Taylor Coxwell and Josh Adams each had 2 points.
The Buccaneers defeated Covenant Academy at home Friday, 57-52, and won at Windsor Academy on Saturday by a score of 64-45. They faced John Hancock at home Monday, and traveled to Monsignor Donovan Catholic High School in Athens on Tuesday. They return home to close the regular season against Gatewood Schools of Eatonton at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
“I think we’re in pretty good position going into the region playoffs,” Fleming said.
