74
combined free throws
Boerne High needed a win in boys basketball Friday night at home against Pieper to keep its playoff chances alive.
The Greyhounds had defeated Pieper in the first round, and have been playing well in the second round, but the Warriors were able to beat Boerne, and in the process, eliminate BHS from playoff contention.
Pieper won Friday’s contest, 71-63, in a game that turned into a foul fest and bogged down with 44 free throws in the fourth quarter alone – 24 for Pieper and 20 for BHS, with 29 fouls committed in that final stanza.
There were 74 combined free throws in the game and the Warriors took 42 free throws and made 26, while the Greyhounds shot 32 free throws and sank 19 of them as the game slowed to a crawl and took more than two hours to complete.
Pieper’s win makes them 9-5 in 26-5A and ties them with Alamo Heights and New Braunfels, which also have nine wins as those three battle for second through fourth place. Wagner, at 12-1, is in first place. If the playoffs started today, those four would make the playoffs. Only Veterans Memorial still has a shot at the playoffs and is sitting in fifth place at 7-6.
The Greyhounds are 5-8 in district and in sixth. With only five wins, they can’t catch any of the top four teams with three games left on the schedule.
Boerne (18-11 overall) was at New Braunfels Tuesday and then visits Wagner Friday. They’ll close out the regular season on Feb. 11 at home against Kerrville Tivy.
Pieper was leading at the end of all four quarters. The Warriors had doubled up the Hounds by the end of the one, 20-10, but the Hounds outscored the Warriors in the second, 16-13, and had trimmed the lead to 7 points by halftime at 33-26.
It was a slow start for both in the second half and the teams didn’t really get going until midway through the third quarter.
Boerne went the first 3:30 of the third before getting on the board to make it 37-28 with 4:30 left. The Hounds only finished the quarter with 6 points, while Pieper dropped in 11 points for the 44-32 advantage.
Pieper’s lead hovered at about the 10-point mark for most of the fourth quarter.
A Nic Hernandez 3-pointer made it 57-50 with less than three minutes. Pieper missed and the Greyhounds had the ball with the chance to cut into the lead even more. Boerne was fouled with 2:20 left but missed both free throws and the Warriors were able to score the next three points to get it back up to 10 at 60-50.
With two minutes remaining, Noa Sanchez banked in a 3 to make it a 7-point game again, and later, Hank Hendrix hit a free throw and it was a 6-point game at 65-59 but there was only 49 seconds and the Warriors were able to hold on for the 8-point win.
Hank Hendrix led the Greyhounds with 18 points, Julien Hartman added 12 points, Casen Hoegemeyer and Hernandez both netted 8, Sanchez and Will Traylor tallied 7 apiece, Slade Salinas scored 2 and Hutson Hendrix hit a free throw.
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