Boerne High began the second round of 26-5A boys basketball Tuesday at home against Veterans Memorial.
At 2-6 through the first round, the Greyhounds can’t afford too many more losses as they battle for a playoff spot.
BHS coach Kimble McHone didn’t call Tuesday’s game with the Patriots a mustwin, but added that it was pretty close to that.
“We just had to get a win; we lost three in a row and we just wanted to come out and play with a lot of emotion and intensity and physicality,” he said.
And so they did, and the result was a 53-42 victory over the Patriots, a team that held them to 21 points in their first meeting.
It may not have been a must-win but it was definitely a much-needed win.
The Greyhounds are 3-6 in 26-5A (17-11 overall) and were at Smithson Valley Friday and then host Boerne Champion Monday, 6:30 p.m.
McHone said the biggest lesson learned in their first year as a 5A team is they have to be the aggressors.
“It’s a war every night. We’re learning this is a different league than what we’re used to, it’s called different, which is fine but we have to rise up to meet those challenges and I think tonight we did that,” he said. “That’s the way the game is being called in this league and that’s what you have to do and that’s fine. I’m not complaining about the officiating at all but we learned over the last eight games that if you’re not physical and play on your heels, you’re going to lose. We have to be physical.”
Both sides were physical and it was only 1-1 through the first three minutes as good looks at the basket were hard to find.
The Patriots were up 9-3 at the end of one quarter, but the Hounds went on a 17-2 run and never trailed from there.
Boerne held a 20-11 lead late in the second but the Patriots closed the first half on a 6-2 spurt to make it 22-17 at halftime.
Veterans Memorial really struggled offensively in the third quarter and it allowed the Greyhounds to extend their lead.
BHS scored the first 10 points of the second half before the Patriots finally got on the board. Veterans Memorial went the first 5:51 of the third quarter without a point and it was 32-19 in favor the Hounds by then.
Boerne took a 37-24 lead into the fourth but the Patriots made a push in the final stanza. After being held to single digit points (9,8,7) through the first three quarters, the Patriots netted 18 in the final stanza.
The Hounds were up by 15 for their largest lead of the game at 42-27, but the Patriots responded with a 9-1 run to trim the lead to 7 points at 43-36 with two minutes remaining.
Because Boerne still held the lead and slowed down the pace, Veterans Memorial had to start fouling to stop the clock and they sent the Greyhounds to the line 13 times in the final stanza.
BHS was up for the challenge and made 11 of their free throws in the quarter to seal the victory by 11 points.
Hank Hendrix led the team with 15 points and was 2 for 2 at the line in the fourth quarter, while Slade Salinas went 6 for 7 at the line in the final stanza and finished with 9 points, all in the second half.
Julien Hartman added 12 points, Casen Hoegemeyer tallied 8 points, Noa Sanchez netted 7 points and was 2 for 2 at the line in the fourth quarter, Nic Hernandez had 2 points and Owen Graban hit a free throw.
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