Bucks lose to Bowie Jackrabbits, (45-57)

In a must-win game, the Bucks were unable to pull it off despite a valiant effort losing their last game of the regular season to the Bowie Jackrabbits, 45-57.

The Bucks started slightly behind the Jackrabbits at the end of the first quarter, 11-14 and were tied at one point, 7-7. Nathan Lechner #13 had his first three-pointer of the game and a bucket to lead the Bucks’ scoring in the first quarter with 5 of the 11 points scored. He was followed by Anson Rodgers #24, who had two buckets for 4 points and Jerry Lawson #35 had an inside the paint bucket for 2 points.

In the second quarter, Arellano was tightly guarded, like a glove on his every move. Both teams added 13 points respectively that quarter. Despite the tight guarding by the Jackrabbits, Jonas Arellano #14 managed to launch a three-pointer and a jump-shot bucket in the paint that quarter. Tyler Valdez #2 plunked in two foul shots and Zeke Castillo #10 launched his own three-pointer. At one point, Castillo stole the ball and hustled down court and then missed the easy lay-up, but did get a foul shot out of the streak of a thief for the ball. At the end of the first half, the Bucks were only behind by three, 24-27.

The Bucks were limited to five points in the third quarter. Arellano only got loose once from his glove-like guard to manage a bucket, followed by one from Jayton Hash #15 inside the paint and a foul shot by Lawson. The Jackrabbits scored 11 points that quarter to the five by the Bucks.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Bucks were behind the Jackrabbits 29-38. Lechner quickly made a bucket inside the paint and Arellano popped in another bucket to challenge the Jackrabbits, 34-38. One of the Bucks sunk a three-pointer at 5:55 of the fourth, but the Jackrabbits went on to score unchecked by the Bucks defense falling behind 37-46 at 4:20 of the fourth. Meanwhile, Rodgers made a foul shot followed by one by Hash closing the gap 39-53 at 2:24 of the fourth. Lawson fouled out about that time and was replaced by Jonathan Trejo #30. Castillo made another three-pointer followed by another from Lechner, but it was much too late to help the Bucks. The Bucks had their best quarter of the game and scored 16 points, but the Jackrabbits were ahead by nine and edged the Bucks score with 18 points that quarter and won the game, (45-57).

The Bucks fought aggressively during the whole game, but tying up Arellano and that third-quarter slump was their downfall. Lechner led the scoring for the Bucks with 13 points, followed by Castillo who had 10, and then Arellano had nine points, Hash had four, Rodgers and Lawson both had three and Valdez had two.

The Bucks slipped to fifth place in District 7 and are out of the playoffs. The Bucks finished with a 5-7 District 7 record and 13-12 overall.

With a perfect record, City View tied up firstplace. They were followed by Holliday, Bowie and then Nocono in fourth.