Patriots win district title, Chargers will be No. 2 seed

KERRY BARBOZA Sports Editor
02/17/2024 08:00 AM

*Logan Scott (23) gets around a Veterans Memorial defender during Tuesdays contest for first place in District 26-5A. Star photo by Kerry Barboza*

Veterans Memorial wrapped up the District 26-5A boys basketball title with a convincing win over Boerne Champion Tuesday at Charger Gym.

The No. 2 state-ranked Patriots almost doubled up No. 12 Champion, 54-29, to finish league play with a perfect 14-0 record (35-1 overall).

Champion ends the regular season at 12-2 in district and 29-5 overall. They’ll open the playoffs Tuesday vs. Cedar Park at Buda Johnson, 6 p.m. The Chargers only two losses in district came to the Patriots.

Champion needed a win Tuesday to tie the Patriots for a share of the league title, but it wasn’t to be after Veterans Memorial led from start to finish.

The Patriots were leading 15-4 at the end of one after the Pats hit three straight 3s.

The Patriots began the second quarter with a 6-0 spurt before the Chargers could get on the board and the lead ballooned to 21-4.

Champion coach Chris Adamek called a timeout, and the Chargers came out of the huddle and scored their first points of the quarter on a Baeden Burdick bucket, but the Patriots hit a couple more 3s in the period and bumped their lead to 27-8.

Charlie Georgelos tallied Champion’s final four points of the second with a free throw and a 3-pointer, while the Patriots scored the final three points of the period for the 30-12 halftime lead after they won the stanza, 15-8.

Once the third quarter started, Georgelos knocked down a pair of free throws to start the second half, but Veterans Memorial answered with a 14-0 run to blow it open.

The Patriots hit four straight 3s in a span of two minutes and it was a 30-point lead at 44-14. Veterans Memorial sank one more 3 for their fifth in the quarter and outscored the Chargers in the stanza, 19-4, to hold a 49-16 advantage going into the final period.

Adamek started removing starters but not before Georgelos had a 3-point play to open the fourth quarter. With a big lead, Veterans Memorial ran a stall and burned clock to close it out. The Pats only scored 5 points in the quarter, while the Chargers tallied 13 points of their 29 points in the final period.

Georgelos led Champion with 11 points, Kristian Herrera added 5, Alex Ross, Logan Scott, Tre Hudspeth, Quinn Grable, Burdick and Briggs Jones all tallied 2 points, while Joshua Marquez hit a free throw.