By MATT CRESS
BORDEN — Christmas is still more than two weeks awat, but a little taste of March could be found at Borden on Friday night.
The host Braves did battle with Southern Athletic Conference and frequent postseason rival Lanesville in a charged atmosphere more befitting a sectional than the third game of the season, and what transpired was a rough-and-tumble contest that saw eight lead changes in the third quarter alone and more than one fan ejected.
And like two legendary sectional duels in the past, the Eagles found a way to win, putting themselves in great position in the SAC standings with a 58-54 victory.
“That was fun,” said Borden coach Doc Nash. “The refs let the teams play both ways — they responded and we did not.”
Emerging from a back-and-forth third quarter that saw the lead see-saw with seemingly every possession, Lanesville (2-0, 1-0 SAC) got a 3-pointer from Bryant Conder on its first possession of the fourth period, then took its biggest lead to that point, at 46-41, on a putback by Jarrett Beach.
Borden (2-1, 0-1) weathered consecutive turnovers on offense, then tied things up on five quick points from center Chance Clark, who led poured in a game-high 22 points.
But after playing toe-to-toe with the Eagles for 29 minutes, the Braves finally blinked.
After another putback by Clark tied things at 50 with 3:02 to play, Lanesville would run off the next eight points, six of them coming from the free-throw line.
“A lot of it goes back to last year — a game like this we would have lost,” said Lanesville coach Mikel Miller. “All these kids went through that experience and it showed in that last two minutes. I wouldn’t say we played as well as probably we can play, but boy did we play hard.”
The Braves had multiple chances to hang closer, but missed a pair of layups and never recovered. By the time Clark finally broke the Borden drought with a driving basket it was 58-52 with just 14 seconds left.
“We’re still learning,” said Nash. “We don’t have a guy named (Alex) Ooley anymore. In my opinion, we lost in the first half, when it seemed like we gave up 1,000 offensive rebounds. They were just tougher than us tonight.”
Eight of the Eagles’ first 10 points came from the offensive glass, including their first three baskets. Only a 3-pointer from Lee Kirchgessner kept Borden in front at the first stop, 11-10.
A 3 from Conder gave Lanesville an 18-15 lead, its first since 4-2. But Chris Beam scored seven points during a 9-2 Borden run that made it 24-20 with 2:07 left in the first half. The Braves could have taken a larger lead into the locker room, but Jeffery Hammond sliced through the lane for a floating jumper at the buzzer that cut the gap to 25-22.
That set up a wild third quarter that saw the lead switch seven times in the first four minutes. Borden briefly looked as if it might pull away, when a basket by Micheal Chester and a three-point play by Clark made it 41-37 with two minutes left.
The Braves were held scoreless for the rest of the quarter and baskets by Walker Horton and John Kissel pulled Lanesville back to even entering the final eight minutes.
Borden certainly have to put a lot of blame on itself for its first loss of the season, as it was outrebounded 29-21, went 11-of-18 from the foul line and committed 20 turnovers.
The fans certainly came out in a duel of the two programs that have ruled area Class A basketball as of late. The Braves are still riding a wave of enthusiasm that came with sectional and regional titles last season, while Lanesville made a run to semistate two seasons ago.
“From a fan’s perspective, this was a lot of fun to watch,” Miller said. “Doc is doing a wonderful job of taking this program to the next level. Their run (last year) was similar to our run two years ago and when that happens the community really gets behind you and you end up with crowds like this.”
While there was nothing so huge on the line as a sectional crown, Nash said it was still disappointing to see the Eagles take the early edge in the SAC race.
“This game was very important,” he said. “This conference is going to be a dogfight and now we have to rely on someone to beat them. It’s going to be a dogfight all season, tonight we got bitten.”
Borden will host South Central next Friday.
LANESVILLE 10 12 19 17—58
BORDEN 11 14 16 13—54
Lanesville (2-0) — J. Hammond 13, Kissel 6, Conder 14, Beach 12, Horton 8, Mullens 0, Pursell 0, N. Hammond 2, Teeter 3.
Borden (2-1) — C. Beam 12, Kirchgessner 6, Potts 4, Chester 8, Clark 22, Adams 0, Martin 0, Wagoner 2, B. Beam 0.
Three-point field goals — Lanesville 2 (Conder 2); Borden 3 (C. Beam 2, Kirchgessner).
Rebounds — Lanesville 29 (Beach 6); Borden 21 (Potts 9).
Turnovers — Lanesville 19, Borden 20.
JUNIOR VARSITY: Lanesville 36 (12-2-9-13) — Glomb 17, Schultz 15, Coke 3, Frazier 1; Borden 35 (10-5-9-11) — B. Beam 16, Little 2, Scott 6, Rich 9, Martin 2.
