Burnet boys basketball beats Marble Falls
CAPTION: Marble Falls senior forward Noah Lyon (left) defends Burnet senior Aidan Holcomb, who scored 18 points during the win against the Mustangs. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Burnet High School boys basketball team defeated Marble Falls 38-30 Feb. 7 to split the season series in District 24-4A.
“We played extremely tough defensively and held them down to 40 and gave ourselves a chance to win the game,” Mustangs head coach John Berkman said. “We just couldn’t score.”
The Bulldogs (17-16, 6-5) led from start to finish, taking a 4-0 lead and never looking back.
Burnet led 16-8 after the opening stanza thanks to the hot shooting of senior post Aidan Holcomb, who scored 10 point during that period. The Bulldogs took a 19-10 at the half and 24-12 two minutes into the third period.
The Mustangs responded with an 11-0 run to trim the deficit to 24-23, but Burnet senior Jaden Backus scored 3 of 4 free throws for a 27-23 advantage going into the final quarter.
Berkman noted that 11-0 run doesn’t happen without a solid defensive effort.
“The positive is we played really, really good defense – that’s a positive,” he said. “This is good because our defense kept us in it.”
Marble Falls cut it to 31-28 thanks to an offensive rebound and bucket from sophomore guard Beckett Berkman with 4 minutes remaining in the contest. The Mustangs scored one more bucket on a backdoor cut from senior guard Isaiah Lazos with an assist from senior post Noah Lyon.
Toward the end of the game, Beckett Berkman and sophomore post Marc Barrios were on the floor.
“They’ve been playing well,” the elder Berkman said. “You make runs, but you make runs with who’s playing well. Certain guys have been playing well and doing good things. And we’re going to go with those guys.”
The Bulldogs were 8 for 16 from the foul line and connected on four 3-pointers, while Marble Falls was 4 for 6 on free throws and scored two 3-pointers.
Burnet head coach Roy Kiser said the Bulldogs believed they had already clinched a playoff spot before the contest against Marble Falls because they swept the season series against Salado. If the two teams had the same district record, the results of the head-to-head matchups is the first tiebreaker.
But that didn’t mean he didn’t want to see a solid performance from his team, pointing out Burnet entered this game after losing to Lampasas 63-39 at home Feb. 4.
“We just have not gotten a good start,” he said. “Tonight was different. The ball went in for Aidan Holcomb. He scored early, and that made all the difference. He’s like anybody else. If he sees the basket and it goes in, then it’s a much better night for him. But that was a good start.”
The senior led all scorers with 18 points followed by Backus with 9, senior Marcus Pimentel scored 5 and senior Hayden Cox and junior J.J. Whigham each finished with 3.
Marble Falls senior forward Garen Jones led the Mustangs with 8 points followed by senior forward Reed Lewis with 6, senior guard Tidus Willie, junior center Cam Plumlee and Barrios each scored 4, and Lazos and Beckett Berkman each finished with 2.
Georgetown Gateway, Lampasas and Marble Falls are the other three playoff teams. Lampasas and Marble Falls will enter the Class 4A Division I (big school) playoffs, while Gateway and Burnet will enter the Division II (small school) playoffs. The deciding factor on which teams go Division I is enrollment. The Class 4A playoffs begin Monday, Feb. 17.
“I’m just really proud of the effort,” John Berkman said. “We played hard all the way to the end. Things just didn’t bounce our way.”
Burnet welcomes Jarrell, while Marble Falls hosts Salado Tuesday, Feb. 11, with the subvarsities playing at 5 p.m. and the varsities at 6:30 p.m. to end the regular season.
CAPTION: Senior forward Garen Jones (10) is congratulated by senior forward Reed Lewis (2) and senior forward Noah Lyon (5) after getting fouled while scoring. Sophomore guard Beckett Berkman (11) heads to the mid court to as the others get lined up for the free throw. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
