Boyd-Buchanan appeared to be headed for the Class A state tournament midway through Monday’s Sectional game against Clarkrange.
Then the fourth quarter happened.
The Buccaneers held a seven-point advantage after three periods, but were outscored by Clarkrange 13-1 in the final period, and ultimately suffered a 53-49 season-ending loss to the Buffaloes at Chattanooga State.
“Clarkrange played really well,” Buccaneers coach Cole Rose said. “And in the fourth quarter they played what had to be some of their best basketball, so you got to give credit to them too.”
Austin Walker scored 13 points to lead Boyd-Buchanan, but just like the rest of his team, was held to without a field goal in the final eight minutes of the contest. Zach Jenkins’ free-throw with 5:28 to play was the Bucs’ only points of the period
The Buffaloes took advantage, too, starting the quarter on a 9-0 run, grabbing a one-point advantage on Landon Baldwin’s free-throw with 5:11 remaining.
“It was kind of a game of runs there,” Clarkrange coach Rodney Pile said. “And luckily, we had the last run.”
The Buccaneers (26-8), who led for much of the first three quarters, jumped out to a seven-point, first-quarter advantage with consecutive 3-pointers from Hall Allen, but the Buffaloes closed the quarter with a 6-0 run to narrow their deficit to 19-18 after one.
After Boyd stretched its lead to eight points in the second, Clarkrange rallied to knot things up at 30-30 at the break. The same thing happened in the third after the Bucs once again built an eight-point lead.
This time, though, the Buffaloes settling for a tie.
“I thought the fourth quarter was a little shaky,” Rose said. “I thought for the first time in a long time we looked young and kind of showed our age a little bit.”
Hall Allen and Justice McMillan each scored 10 in the losing effort, while Baldwin finished with a game-high for Clarkrange (18-16), Chase Beaty added 14 and Garrett Stults chipped in 11.