The boys basketball team suffered a tough loss to the Clovis West Golden Eagles in a nailbiter on Tuesday night, resulting in a 64-60 loss.
The Eagles got ahead early, winning the tip-off and easily putting their first points on the board with a three-pointer. However, the Bears responded with intensity as senior point guard Jacob Sutton scored on a pull-up midrange jumper.
Free throws and another basket in the paint widened the Eagles’ lead to 7-2. Despite Clovis’ unrelenting defense, senior power forward Jerry Williams managed to drive past his defender and finish in the post with a pump fake.
After more back-and-forth play, the Eagles blocked a shot and scored a layup off a counterattack, extending their lead to 13-9 with 3:12 left on the clock.
The Bears’ defensive intensity remained high, but clumsy passes caused them to lose control of the ball and commit numerous turnovers, allowing Clovis to cash in easy fast-break points, and pressuring the Bears to call a timeout.
Hoping to bounce back, senior center Aiden Atkins grabbed an offensive rebound from a missed three and flipped it in, with less than a minute left. Despite the short clock, the Eagles still found a way to respond with another made shot, closing out the first quarter with the Bears trailing behind 19-11.
The Bears had a shaky start going into the second quarter, making one of two free throws after Atkins was fouled. M-A attempted to regain control when junior shooting guard Leighton Carpenter muscled his way to the rim and scored. However, the Eagles soon widened their lead with a basket and a free throw.
Despite their efforts, M-A struggled to find their shooting rhythm, frustrating the team. Still, the Bears continued to run offensively, and senior shooting guard Bryce Winters scored a fast break layup, bringing the score up to 30-16.
M-A slowly began to shrink the score gap when senior shooting guard Luca Auer drove past his defender and finished at the rim with 1:43 left on the clock.
Sutton played tenacious defense, grabbing a steal and taking the ball the length of the court to hit a smooth floater. In the last minute of the quarter, Williams was fouled and knocked down both free throws, closing the quarter with M-A down 34-23.
Clovis struck first in the third quarter, scoring with a quick layup to extend their lead. However, the Bears slowly began to bring the game back into reach as their offense started to click. Senior center Will Abdella was sent to the line and converted on both free throws to cut M-A’s deficit to 38-27.
The Bears began to increase their defensive intensity, racking up steals and defensive stops. The crowd’s cheering started to build as M-A began to gain momentum in the tail end of the game. Sutton picked off an inbound pass before racing down the court to finish a contested layup at the rim, making it 42-32 with 5:11 remaining in the quarter.
M-A’s momentum seemed to falter late in the third as Clovis went on a scoring run. The Eagles scored a step-back three-pointer in the last moments of the quarter, ending with the Bears trailing 51-34.
M-A started off the fourth quarter with a statement as Williams received the ball in the paint and pump-faked his defender before scoring the layup through contact, getting the and-one.
M-A’s defensive intensity reached a new level as the Bears fought to close their deficit. M-A got back-to-back stops as the crowd boosted them on. With four minutes left in the game, the stands went crazy as Sutton made a difficult and one layup. Sutton drained the free throw to make it 55-45.
On the very next play, Sutton spotted up from three and drained it, bringing the Bears within range, 55-48. The crowd continued to impact the game as Clovis struggled to make their free throws amid the heckling and constant screaming of M-A’s supporters.
“The fans, they showed up and supported us and they gave us life towards the end of the game. [They] got us going and they were a huge factor and kind of messing with the other team, getting them off their game. It meant a lot to keep climbing,” Sutton said.
With just under a minute left in the game, Williams kicked the ball out to Auer, who buried the triple to put the Bears within three points, 59-56. With less than a minute on the clock, the Bears were forced to repeatedly foul Clovis to regain possession of the ball. Unfortunately, the Eagles were able to sink their free throws and maintain the lead. Despite M-A’s efforts, they were unable to overcome their deficit. Ultimately, the Bears were defeated 64-60 in a hard-fought and thrilling fourth-quarter contest.
Despite their loss, Sutton is proud of the resilience M-A showed as a team. “I thought we stuck together. I mean, throughout the whole game, being down that much the whole game, it’d be really easy to just kind of disperse and just be like, I guess our season’s over, but we stayed together and we stayed in the fight the whole game and made it exciting,” Sutton said.
Winters also commented on the team’s perseverance. “There were a lot of ups and downs, and we came back at the end, tried to fight back, but the other team just played better,” Winters said.
“I’m proud of this team. I think that was probably one of the best seasons M-A’s had in a while. Obviously, [it] didn’t go the way we wanted at the end. [I] thought we should be playing a couple more games, but overall, I’m proud of the team and I’m proud of the season we put together,” Sutton said.
