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The Basehor-Linwood High School boys' basketball team bounced back from its season-opening defeat to Bonner Springs by topping Santa Fe Trail, 45-36 on Tuesday night in Carbondale.

"It's nice to win here and that's tough to do," said B-L head coach Dan Miller. "It's nice to get a win on the road. Anytime you can win in the league on the road you've done pretty well."

But it was a game the Bobcats almost let slip away. BLHS took a 10 point lead into the final quarter, but the Chargers fought back. Combined with some sloppy play by Basehor-Linwood and SFT's ability to hit a few shots, the Chargers pulled to within one, 37-36, with 1:28 left in the game.

However, Basehor-Linwood's Travis Fouts scored on a lay-up eight seconds later and Brandon Fisher hit six free throws in the final 41 seconds on the game to ice the contest.

"Those were crucial," Miler said. "Brandon's our best free throw shooter. It's good for him to get that feeling of being up there when it counted."

Miller, though pleased with the win, was not happy with his team's play in the second half, turning the ball over 10 times, including seven in the final eight minutes.

"It looked like we were trying to give the game away. In the first half I thought we did a pretty good job of handling the pressure, so I was pretty pleased. We wanted to keep the turnovers down to five in the second half and we doubled it. Ten turnovers in a half is just too much. We just need to control the ball better."

Miller was happy with the defensive effort, though, holding Santa Fe Trail to 13-of-47 from the field, including a frigid five-of-20 from beyond the arc.

"Defense won the game, without a doubt. That was a tremendous effort. They were a little quicker and smaller and we were able to play pretty good defense against them. We didn't' give up many second shots, so I was pleased."

The Bobcats never trailed in the game. Basehor-Linwood took a 16-10 lead after one quarter, but a 9-0 Bobcat run in the second period boosted the Bobcats lead to 25-15 a couple of minutes before the half.

Basehor-Linwood took the advantage to as many as 11 points, midway through the third period, before the Chargers went on a 12-2 spurt before Fisher's free throws down the stretch.

Fisher had a great night, scoring a career-high 18 points and grabbing eight rebounds to go along with three steals. Fouts added 11 points for the Bobcats. Horn was the leading rebounder in the game with nine.

Score by quarters:

Basehor-Linwood 16 12 8 9 45

Santa Fe Trail 10 13 3 10 36

Basehor-Linwood (1-0, 1-1): Jackie Kimlin 1-5 5-8 2 7, Colby Kooser 0-1 0-0 1 0, Brandon Fisher 4-8 8-9 0 18, Mike Horn 1-4 5-7 4 7, Travis Fouts 5-10 1-2 4 11, Jake Hills 0-0 0-0 0 0, Brandon Dye 1-3 0-0 0 2, Eric Peeler 0-2 0-0 2 0. Totals: 12-33 19-26 13 45. Santa Fe Trail totals: 13-47 5-10 22 36.

Three-point goals (2-10): Fisher 2-6, Kimlin 0-1, Kooser 0-1, Dye 0-2; SFT 5-20. Rebounds (36): Horn 9, Fisher 8, Fouts 6, Kimlin 6, Kooser 3, Dye 2, Peeler, Team 1; SFT 27. Assists (7): Kimlin 4, Dye, Horn, Kooser; SFT 6. Steals (8): Fisher 3, Fouts 3, Horn, Kooser; SFT 10. Blocked shots (3): Fisher, Fouts, Peeler; SFT 0.

The Basehor-Linwood junior varsity squad made a furious fourth quarter comeback against the Chargers, only to lose by two, 53-51.

The Bobcats entered the final period down by 12, 42-30, when BLHS stormed back. Jake Brown tied the game at 51-51 with about a minute left on a 15-foot jumper, but the Chargers got the game-winning basket with five seconds left.

Nine Bobcats made the scoring column, led by Brian Gripka and Eric Peeler with eight each.

Score by quarters:

Basehor-Linwood 13 7 10 21 51

Santa Fe Trail 18 14 10 11 53

Basehor-Linwood scoring: Eric Laffere 2, Brian Gripka 8, Jake Hills 2, Charles Millison 4, Nick Verbenec 5, Brandon Dye 6, John Grube 7, Jake Brown 2, Bronson Schaake 0, Eric Peeler 8, Ron Gray 7.

In the freshman contest, a tough second quarter spelled trouble for BLHS as the Bobcats lost to SFT, 39-29.

The game was tied at 7-7 after one quarter, but the Chargers went on a 12-3 run in the second period to take a 19-10 lead at the intermission. The Bobcats got within six entering the final quarter but could get no closer.

Garyn Gorup led Basehor-Linwood with 10 points.

Score by quarters:

Basehor-Linwood 7 3 9 10 29

Santa Fe Trail 7 12 6 14 39

Basehor-Linwood scoring: Brett Dowdall 6, Josh Kimlin 0, Joey Brown 4, Garyn Gorup 10, Billy Hashman 0, Robby Paterson 1, Cameron Freeman 0, Cody Herbster 2, Adam Smith 0, John Shumaker 3, Tim Ward 3.

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