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West Jessamine players Chase Fain, Landon Adkins and Robby Irgang teamed up on Burgin's John Price to force a turnover during the Colts' 84-60 victory over the Bulldogs on Monday night at East Jessamine High School. The West defense forced 33 turnovers in the game. (Photo by Jonathan Kleppinger/jkleppinger@jessaminejournal.com / February 19, 2013) |
Burgin boys’ coach Brian Kirk must have been giddy in the locker room at halftime of his team’s 46th District semifinal game against West Jessamine on Monday night. The Bulldogs had played to a 30-30 tie after 16 minutes against a team that beat them twice in the regular season by an average of 42 points.
But the Colts (16-11) pulled it together and looked much more like themselves in the second half en route to an 84-60 victory over the Bulldogs (9-18) and a berth in the district championship Thursday night.
West came out with a lot of defensive pressure, forcing a Burgin timeout just two minutes in and the Colts up 7-2. West would build the lead to 11 before the Bulldogs responded with a 6-0 run. And just when the Colts had built the advantage back to 11 again at 27-18 soon after a Daulton Peters two-hand slam dunk, Burgin rattled off 12 straight points to take a brief lead 28-27.
“Burgin got control of the tempo late first quarter,” West coach Damon Kelley said. “They got us to where we weren’t scoring so we couldn’t get into our press; they were being patient on the offensive end and getting the ball where they wanted it, and then we’re walking the ball up the floor against their packed-in zone; we weren’t very smart.”
The West pressure forced 19 Burgin turnovers in the first half. Kelley said it was Burgin’s effort on the glass, outrebounding the Colts 28-16 in the first half, that allowed the Bulldogs to stay in the game.
“You look at the stat line, and there were some stats that made you wonder how we were tied; there were some stats that made you wonder how they were tied, and that’s why it was even,” Kelley said.
Burgin junior forward Nick Beckerson found the basket often in the first half, pouring in 14 of his team’s 30 points but also picking up three fouls. The Bulldogs had no options to deal with fouls or fatigue; their five starters played the whole game, with the only substitution coming with 33 seconds left to let fans salute lone senior Alex Beckerson as he left the game.
“We knew that would be a factor,” Kelley said. “They’ve got a nice group, but they don’t have much depth. We knew that we had to make them play faster than they wanted to; we had to make depth be an issue with fatigue.”
The Colts continued their full-court press in the third quarter and began to find their rhythm on the offensive end, with senior Chase Fain and Peters scoring West’s first 16 points of the half. The top seed in the district pulled away, leading 56-40 after three quarters and taking a 31-point lead at 76-45.
Fain led the Colts in the scoring column with 27 and added seven steals. Peters finished with 23. Junior point guard Will Henderson packed the stat sheet with 18 points, six rebounds, six steals and five assists.
Both Beckersons had double-doubles for Burgin, Nick with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Alex with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
West moves on to the district championship Thursday night at East Jessamine High School against Mercer County (16-12). With a berth in the 12th Region tournament already claimed, Kelley said Thursday’s game is for district pride.
“You don’t want to lose against a rival, whether it’s East or Mercer,” he said. “We’ve been through the first-round jitters, and I think we’ll be ready to play Thursday night.”
