By Robert Morgan | Published Sunday, February 8, 2009
It was not the best of performances at home Friday night for the Boyd High School boys' basketball team. The team had its share of breakdowns at both ends of the floor while fighting for its playoff life against Jacksboro.
The Yellowjackets rose to the occasion when it mattered most. After several lead changes they managed to hold on to the one that mattered most as they beat the Tigers 49-48.
Both schools were even from start to finish and neither squad managed a double-digit lead. In fact, Boyd's one point halftime lead held all the way as the group scored 13 points in each of the last two quarters where the lead traded hands on numerous trips down the floor.
"We played very sluggish due to some sickness going around - some of my kids did not even practice the day before after having the weekend off," said BHS coach Oscar Hernandez. "But it was nice to see us make some big plays down the stretch to get the win."
The win allowed Boyd to hold on to the third and final playoff spot along with Millsap for at least one more week as it moved to 6-4 in league play and 13-13 for the season. Jacksboro is out of the playoff race at 1-9 and 7-14, respectively.
The most productive quarter of the night for Boyd was the first. That's where Tim Fleming and Edgar Lugo helped score a game-high 15 points as BHS crawled out to a 15-12 lead.
The Tigers never went away. In fact, they held Boyd to a game-low eight points in the second quarter to trim the BHS lead to one point at halftime, 23-22.
Despite a handful of turnovers by both schools in the second half, the Yellowjackets made the most of it. Kyle Stearns came off the bench to help fight off the Tigers.
"Kyle was big off the bench for us as he provided a huge spark," Hernandez said. "We just need to stay healthy and get back to our defensive fundamentals."
Stearns finished the night with 10 points, four steals and three rebounds. Fleming was the scoring leader with 16 points, four more than Lugo with 12.
Also scoring for Boyd were Trent Carter with five points, and Junior Whatley, Jake May and Travis Williams with two each. Carter also racked up eight rebounds, and Williams had six rebounds and three blocks.
