Buchholz Basketball was back in action for the first time since last season. Coach Elliot Harris, now in his second year at the helm of the program, will have a very young squad this season compared to last, only returning one starter from last season’s team and only featuring three seniors on the entire roster. The only returning starter, Junior Lucas Bhatia, and two of the three seniors, Peyton Warring and Mark Gelin, were in action tonight during the Black and Gold game.
Team Gold
Team Gold was easily the more experienced of the two teams as it featured both Bhatia and Warring, along with Juniors Ezra Olmedo and Jamison McTureous who were both Varsity letter winners last year and Sophomore Jacob Bromirski who is in his first year at the Varsity level. Last year at the Varsity level, the 4 returners on Gold combined for 11.8 Points per game, but that number will easily double, if not triple this upcoming season as the Cats lost 6 of their top 7 scorers from last season. Bhatia and Warring were both top 3 in Assists and Steals per game for the Bobcats last year, Bhatia averaging 3.3 and 0.9 and Warring averaging 1.4 and 0.7 respectively.
Team Black
While four out of the five players on Team Gold had prior Varsity experience, only one of the six on Team Black had any, Davarian “Hitman” Howard. The team featured one Senior, Mark Gelin, three Juniors, Kayden Dix, Hitman, and Jacob Rosenberg, and two Sophomores Colin Reynolds and Charles Klodell. Other than summer ball, these were almost all of the team’s first in game Varsity reps. No stats were available for Hitman in his time at the Varsity level.
The Black & Gold Game
Gold and Black faced off in two 8-minute halves, both halves had a running clock and Coach Harris multiple times stepped in midgame to provide coaching and instruction to both of the teams. The action started slow and remained that way for most of the first half, but the second half saw a much quicker pace than the first. For Team Gold, the offense came from all five players, guard Ezra Olmedo led the team in scoring with 10 of the teams 23 points, while also providing a team high 4 steals, all of which led to fastbreak layups for Olmedo. Forward Jacob Bromirski had the first made field goal of the game and the first made 3 pointer of the game and ended with 5 points and a team high 3 rebounds. The point guard duo of Lucas Bhatia and Peyton Warring chipped in 3 points each, while being the primary ball handlers and breaking the press defense of Team Black. Jamison McTureous treated this game as if it was a regular season game as numerous times he put his body on the line going after loose balls, showing his competitive edge. The Junior forward ended the game with 2 points, 2 rebounds, a team high 2 assists and 1 steal, as he was all over the court for Team Gold.
Team Black’s offense was mainly brought by Davarian “Hitman” Howard who led the team with 8 points. Hitman was aggressive with the ball in his hands, driving to the hoop and either taking strong layups or shooting a fadeaway middy, which he hit 3 times over the course of the game. He also got active on the boards with 3 rebounds along with 1 assist and a nice block/steal on a Lucas Bhatia drive to the basket. Hitman wasn’t the only player to hit the boards for Team Black though, Charles Klodell led the team with 4 rebounds, 2 of them being offensive, and Mark Gelin hauled in 3 of his own as well. Klodell and Kayden Dix were the only other two members of Team Black to score alongside Hitman, as they had 2 points each. The Junior Dix fought hard on the defensive side of the ball, where he had a nice steal which led to a fastbreak on the other side. While Jacob Rosenberg and Colin Reynolds didn’t fill up the stat sheet, each played hard and took good shots that just didn’t fall while facing their more experienced counterparts in their limited time on the floor, as they both split time due to Team Black having 6 players on the team.
The final score of the intersquad game was 23-12 in favor of Team Gold, who were in control for the entire game due to their clear advantage in terms of Varsity playing experience. Both teams looked very good though and if a couple of Team Black had a couple of their threes rattle in rather than rattle out, the game might’ve gone the other way.
Stat Leaders
***THE STATS I AM PRESENTING ARE UNOFFICIAL AND MAY CONTAIN ERRORS***
Points – Ezra Olmedo(10), Davarian “Hitman” Howard(8), Jacob Bromirski(5)
Rebounds – Charles Klodell(4), Mark Gelin(3), Davarian “Hitman” Howard(3), Jacob Bromirski(3)
Assists – Jamison McTureous(2), Lucas Bhatia(1), Davarian “Hitman” Howard(1)
Steals – Ezra Olmedo(4), Lucas Bhatia(2), Davarian “Hitman” Howard(1), Kayden Dix(1), Jamison McTureous(1), Jacob Bromirski(1)
Blocks – Davarian “Hitman” Howard(1)
3 Pointers Made – Peyton Warring(1), Lucas Bhatia(1), Jacob Bromirski(1)
