Bulldog boys end regular season 3-11 after loss to Panthers
By Kelsie Hoitomt
HAMMOND — The Boyceville boys basketball team played their last official regular season game last Thursday night in Hammond against the St. Croix Central Panthers.
It was a nail biter throughout that ended a heart breaker of a loss with the Bulldogs trailing by two in the 53-51 final.
The Panthers secured a lead first away in the first quarter with the score at 20-11. That off set the course for the remainder of the 24 minutes of ball left to play.
That score deficit would haunt the Bulldogs as they went on to tie the Panthers in the second quarter 8-8 and then they outscored them in the third 15-7. Despite that, they were unable to grasp a lead.
The score was 27-19 before the half and then the Bulldogs tied it up in the third at 35’s after boasting those 15 points.
The fourth quarter was a free throw battle with the Panthers outscoring them from the line by two extra points, which was the game changer as they had 18 total points to the Bulldogs’ 16.
Back in the first quarter, the Bulldogs first got on the board when Jake McIntyre, Hunter Anderson, Brady Schutts and Mitch Leach drove to the hoop; Leach also sunk a free throw and Brett Boda scored their first trey.
In the second quarter, it was Leach again to the bucket with two shots for four of their eight points. Schutts was fouled and scored his first free throw and then hit a double and Sam Hellmann drained a free throw as well.
Out of the break, the Bulldogs had their two best quarters with 16 points in each.
In the third, Leach knocked down a three, Tyler Draeger had two doubles, Anderson made two free throws and a double, McIntyre had one double and one free throw and Schutts went two for two from the line.
McIntyre’s momentum only grew and he was the main source of points in the final minutes of play. He hit two shots for four and then made two free throws.
Schutts followed that up with three free throws of his own and then Anderson drained a trey and Draeger and Leach each made a basket for two.
According to the book, Leach led in points with 12, McIntyre followed with 11, Schutts had ten, Anderson had nine, Draeger had six, Boda had three and Hellmann had one.
The Bulldogs finished the regular season last in the Dunn-St. Croix with a 3-11 record, which was a tie with Spring Valley.
They were seeded fifth in the Regional bracket and they faced off Tuesday night against Glenwood City (#4). The winner of that contest goes on to play Eau Claire Regis (#1) on Friday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m.