HANCEVILLE, Ala.- With the game tight and the Aggies having just taken a 27-26 lead, Good Hope’s star point guard, Web Buchanan, took charge. He shot down the court with the ball, side stepped a defender and nailed a deep three to get the lead back. After Fairview inbounded, he pickpocketed a ball handler, and took it coast to coast for a lay. The Aggies responded with a layup, but then Buchanan struck back, draining two straight deep-balls to extend the Raiders’ lead, which they’d go on to keep for the rest of the game. Despite a great effort from Fairview in the early minutes of the fourth, Buchanan’s hot streak in the third would prove the difference in the no. 3 seed Raiders’ 49-38 upset of no. 2 Fairview. Good Hope advanced to the JV Boys championship, where they face a tall task in no. 1 seed West Point.
The no. 2 vs. no. 3 semifinal matchup was tight from the start, with Fairview big man Markos Vazquez going back and forth with Good Hope’s Chase Boles. Vazquez’ strength in the paint earned him six points in the first, matched by Boles’ six off the back of a three and and-one buckets. With more consistent ball movement and forward Eli Drake’s four first quarter rebounds, Good Hope ended the first up 12-8.
A Vazquez lay got the Aggies going in the second, where they’d find their footing on offense. Buchanan’s scoring coupled with the rebounding of Jaxson Richter kept the Raiders fueled and the game close, however. Vazquez’ spark was complemented by Jackson Skaggs, another big, physical forward who came off the bench and grabbed a pair of rebounds and sunk two put back baskets at the end of the second to make it a 26-25 deficit at the break.
The third saw Buchanan’s scoring stretch take off and the Aggies go cold, scoring just six points in the period. Vazquez and Skaggs’ size remained a factor, with both scoring a bucket each. The defense had no answer for Buchanan, however, and the Raiders took a 38-31 lead into the fourth.
Fairview was forced into a game of catchup the entirety of the fourth, with contributions from Vazquez and guard Rowan Ibrahim keeping them afloat. In the end, Buchanan capped off the game at the line with five free throw makes, putting the finishing touches on Good Hope’s upset win.
Buchanan lead the game with 24 points, also recording two rebounds and four steals. Boles added six points and a pair of steals, and Richter finished with three points and six rebounds.
For Fairview, Vazquez ended the game with 13 points, two rebounds, a steal and two blocks. Ibrahim tacked on nine points, three rebounds and an assist.
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