SAN ANTONIO – After a buzzer-beating win in the first round of the 5A basketball playoffs, the Champion boys didn’t need any lategame heroics in Friday’s second-round contest with Harlandale at Taylor Field House.
Champion led from start to finish and despite a second- half push by the Indians, the Chargers cruised to a 19-point win, 60-41.
The Chargers (30-5) faced an old foe in the third round when they tipped off against Alamo Heights (29-3) Tuesday at Blossom’s Littleton Gym.
Last Friday’s victory was bittersweet for Chargers head coach Chris Adamek, a former Greyhound, who used to coach the Indians.
“It was a place I never thought I would stay more than three years and I stayed 14 years because I just fell in love with the place and left part of my heart there when I came back to Boerne,” he said. “I love my guys and love being a Charger but there will always be a piece of me that’s on the southside with those Harlandale Indians.
“The hard part is at the beginning, once you get into the game it’s like any other way and you try to coach and help your kids and put them in the best spots to be successful,” Adamek continued.
The Chargers were pretty successful on Friday as four different players scored in the first quarter and help spot them to an 18-10 lead.
Champion dropped in 18 again in the second and doubled up the Indians, 18-9, to take a 36-19 lead into halftime as six different players had scored by the break.
Adamek said he knew the Indians would make a run at the Chargers in the second half and sure enough they did. After an 8-0 spurt by Champion after 4 points each from Braden Baum and Dakarai Hodge to open up their biggest lead of the game at 48-25 with 1:30 remaining in the third, Harlandale made its move.
The Indians scored the last nine points of the quarter to trim the lead down to 48-34 when the period ended thanks to a pair of 3s and a 3-point play.
After not scoring for a span of 2:30 that bridged the third and fourth quarters, Charlie Georgelos ended the Chargers drought with a key 3 to make it 51-34, but the Indians answered with 5 straight points thanks to another 3 and a pair of free throws and the lead was down to 51-39.
After a Chargers miss, the Indians had a wide-open look at another 3 and if that shot goes in, the lead is down to single digits, but the shot was off, and the lead stayed at double digits.
From there, Baum slashed his way to the basket for 4 more points and Mason Wyatt hit a 3 for a 7-0 run that pushed the lead back to 19 points at 58-39 with 4:05 left and basically put the game out of reach.
Adamek said he was worried during Harlandale’s push.
“They can turn 3 in 13 in a matter of 30 or 40 seconds so they’re never really out of it, but the guys reacted well,” he said.
After only scoring 2 more points over the next two minutes, the Harlandale coach raised the white flag and removed his starters with two minutes left and Adamek did the same as the Chargers won by 19.
Charlie Georgelos led the Chargers with 14 points, Braden Baum scored 13, Mason Wyatt had 10, Quinn Grable and Dakarai Hodge added 8 points apiece, Braden Burdick netted 3, while Briggs Jones and Justin Hill chipped in 2 points each.
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