If the Champion boys basketball team was going to win its second regional championship in a row, they were going to have to get past two Veterans Memorial teams at last weekend’s Region IV-5A tourney at Littleton Gym.
The Chargers met Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial in Friday’s regional semis and a win there would have put them in Saturday’s finals against district opponent San Antonio Veterans Memorial.
Instead, Saturday’s regional championship turned into a battle of Veterans Memorial schools after the one from Corpus Christi defeated the Chargers on Friday, 55-48.
Champion ends its season at 31-6 and two wins shy of playing at the state tournament for the second year in a row. (S.A. Vets defeated C.C. Vets for the regional title on Saturday and is advancing to state.)
Friday’s contest between the Chargers and C.C. Vets was close throughout. The lead was back and forth but Champion’s last lead came late in the third.
A Quinn Grable 2-pointer and a Dakarai Hodge 3-pointer put the Chargers up 36-32 with 3:14 left in the quarter but a Patriots 3 cut it down to one at 36-35.
Braden Baum answered with a 2 pointer and the Chargers were leading by three, 38-35, but the Corpus Christi school closed out the final minute of the third quarter on a 7-0 run for the 42-38 advantage and never trailed from there.
The Patriots scored the first two points of the fourth quarter and the lead was up to six at 44-38.
After a pair of Baum free throws, Veterans Memorial responded by going on a 5-0 spurt for its biggest lead of the game at nine points, 49-40.
Baum drained another 3 and then Mason Wyatt connected on two free throws and it was a fourpoint game again at 49-45, but the Patriots went into stall ball and managed to kill the clock.
The Charger had to start fouling to stop the clock and sent the Patriots to the line. After a pair of made free throws by the Corpus Christi school, Baum connected on a 3-pointer and there was still a chance at 51-48, but the clock was down to under a minute and Champion didn’t score on its last three possessions with two missed 3s and a turnover.
Veterans Memorial went to the line seven times in the final minute and made six of their free throws to seal the game. The Patriots were good at the line and finished 9 for 10 in the game at the stripe.
Baum led the team in scoring with 24 points, Hodge added 8, Grable had 5, while Wyatt and Georgelos both netted 4.
Seniors this year are Dakarai Hodge, Jackson Marshall, Justin Hill, Alex Gonzalez and Braden Baum. To see which Charger players, on the boys and girls side, made the all-district teams, see the Boerne Star.
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