With the regular season over the Varsity Boys’ Basketball team entered the Class 5A Bi-District Playoffs. In the first round on Tuesday night, the Broncos faced the Richland Rebels; the number one seed in the playoffs and ranked fourth in the entire 5A conference. The first half was loud and explosive offensively from each side. Back to back scoring happened for both teams, but costly mistakes and turnovers caused the broncos to fall behind by 7 points in the second quarter. The team kept their wits together and managed to keep the game close heading into halftime down 28-18.
At the start of the the third quarter, Derry Franklin and Josh Doctson helped their team forge a comeback scoring 6 points to bring the Broncos within four of the Rebels. After that, things didn’t turn out good for the Broncos. Richland began to get on a scoring streak and the panicked Broncos were forced to get out of their offensive tempo and force shots with time running out. After the initial 6 points scored at the beginning of the third, only 5 points were scored from the floor by the Broncos, the rest were free throws. Richland took advantage of the mistake by the Broncos and added to their point cushion jumping out to a double digit lead. Hopes of a comeback began to dwindle as time ran out and the game concluded with a 55 to 40 loss. However, the loss does not overshadow the great season that the boys put together. They entered a very competitive 5A District and managed to place third in it with a (9-5) district record. Now that the younger players have a taste of what 5A brings, you can count on them returning and wanting more next year.