Caption
Close
SEGUIN — An 11-point lead had nearly slipped away. Also sliding off the court was Boerne Champion’s chance at capturing a piece of its first district championship since 2011.
Fortunately for the Chargers, they are comfortable with a lot on the line, especially when they are standing at the line.
Boerne Champion sank 9 of 12 free throws during the final four minutes Tuesday night at Goldie Harris Gym, turning a one-point lead over Seguin into a 44-36 win that clinched at least a share of the District 26-5A title.
“We work on that every day, at least 10 minutes a day in practice,” Boerne Champion forward Tristan Green said of foul shooting. “That’s what we do. That’s definitely our bread and butter.”
It was the seventh consecutive win for the Chargers (22-6, 11-1 26-5A), whose last loss was a 45-36 defeat at home against the Matadors (15-12, 9-3). Seguin could have moved into a first-place tie with another win against Boerne Champion.
The Matadors kept it close throughout the first half and took a one-point lead early in the second half. But they had to play catch-up for most of the game, falling behind 35-24 early in the fourth quarter. Seguin then went on a 10-0 run, with Jay Sayles scoring seven of his nine points during that stretch, but could not come all the way back.
“I think it shocked all of us,” Sayles said. “We were like, ‘We beat them once, we’re going to beat them again.’ We had that cockiness.”
Boerne Champion had confidence, particularly in its outside shooting. Sophomore Nathan Ghavidel made four 3-point goals and scored a game-high 16 points, while senior Noah Laing added a pair of 3-pointers and scored nine.
Seguin, which got a team-high 10 points off the bench from senior post player Cedric Ward, went significant stretches without scoring. The Matadors were missing starting senior guard Xavier Bateman for the second game in a row. Seguin coach Dwayne Gerlich said Bateman is serving an indefinite suspension.
“We just didn’t come out ready,” Ward said. “But we’ve got bigger goals in mind. We’ll move on from it, learn from it, and we’ll be back.”
Seguin already had secured a playoff berth and can still claim a share of the district title if it wins its last two regular-season games and Boerne Champion loses its last two. But if the Chargers protect their lead in the standings like they protected Tuesday’s lead on the court, that likely will not happen.
“We took care of the ball down the stretch and knocked down free throws,” Ghavidel said. “We just had to respond to their run. We knew they were going to have one.”
adam.zuvanich@express-news.net
Twitter: @AZuvanich
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
