BonnerSprings.com

Overland Park — It was midway through the third quarter, and Blue Valley Southwest was beginning to melt down.

The Timberwolves’ Jack Raybuck had been slapped with a technical foul, and the Bonner Springs boys basketball team was capitalizing on Southwest’s struggles. The Braves led by 13 and appeared to be on cruise control.

During the final 12 minutes of the game, however, the Braves came unglued and the Timberwolves stormed back for a 46-43 victory Tuesday night at Southwest.

If there was a positive to be taken from the loss, it was that it came in early December rather than late February or early March.

“It is frustrating when you play so good for two and a half quarters and then totally fall apart,” BSHS coach Andy Price said. “I guess the good thing is you can’t blame it on one guy because the coaches made some coaching errors, we get a technical foul, we make a terrible play at the end of the third quarter not going for the last shot when our players didn’t know how much time was left and our coaches didn’t communicate it, and we made some bad box-outs. We just didn’t execute the game plan down the stretch.

“The only thing you can take from that is all the little mistakes we made are magnified in the second game of the season. Our goal is to get better every game and be at our best at substate, so we’ve got to correct mistakes and move on.”

The Braves weathered a wild first quarter where they fell behind 9-4 after four minutes, then used a put-back by Stevie Williams and 3-pointers from B.J. Watson and Joseph Dooley to surge to a 13-11 lead. After that, Southwest closed the quarter on a 6-0 run and led 17-13.

The Timberwolves’ momentum screeched to a halt in the second quarter thanks to a stifling defensive performance by Bonner Springs. The Braves forced five turnovers and held Southwest to 1-for-12 shooting in the quarter. Meanwhile, they rattled off a 12-3 run. A layup by Williams and a 17-footer by Jourdaine Smallwood tied the game, and then a three-point play by Ivory Elijah put Bonner Springs ahead 20-17. Moments later, J.J. Jackson swished a 3-pointer and gave the Braves their largest lead of the half at six points before they ultimately took a 25-20 lead into halftime.

The Braves picked right up where they left off to start the third quarter. The teams traded early buckets, and then Jordan Jackson scored on a put-back and drew a foul from Raybuck. Seconds later, Raybuck was whistled for a technical foul for saying something after the play. Jackson knocked down two of his ensuing three free throw attempts and stretched the lead to 31-22. Brett Steuart then scored on the next two possessions, and Jackson added another put-back as the lead grew to 37-24 with four minutes left in the third quarter.

From there, everything went wrong for Bonner Springs. The Braves turned the ball over twice and missed their final three shots of the quarter while Southwest rattled off a 9-0 run and pulled within 37-33 entering the fourth quarter.

Steuart knocked down a jumper to open the final period. The teams traded buckets for the next few minutes, and a 17-foot jumper by Steuart put BSHS on top 43-37 with 4:40 to go. Seconds later, Steuart was whistled for a foul at the other end of the court. When he bounced the ball toward the official after the call, Steuart also was tagged with a technical foul. Southwest had four free throw attempts and made three of them, drawing within 43-40. Neither team made a field goal the rest of the way, but the Braves never scored at all. Southwest sank six more free throws and claimed a three-point lead. Watson had two 3-point attempts to tie the game — including one in the final second after he stole a BVSW inbounds pass — but the Timberwolves prevailed.

“We did play good defense most of the game, we just had too many breakdowns,” Price said. “We’d play good defense and then not get a rebound, or we’d play good defense and then get a silly foul. Then, our offense just kind of fell apart.

“The good thing is we’re off Friday night, so hopefully we can put this behind us and get ready for next Tuesday night against Mill Valley.”

Anthony Miller led Southwest with 18 points, 16 of them in the second half.

Jordan Jackson led Bonner Springs with 10 points, Steuart and Williams had eight apiece and Watson added six as BSHS fell to 1-1.

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