Burnet boys basketball aims for great finishes

CAPTION: Burnet senior guard Jaxon Sparks and the Bulldogs look to earn another District 24-4A win. Photos by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

The Burnet High School boys basketball team is preparing for the final two games of the regular season with plenty on the line.

The first is at The Doghouse when the Bulldogs welcome Marble Falls Friday, Feb. 13 and a road game at Jarrell Tuesday, Feb. 17. The subvarsities playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity to follow.

Assistant coach Carter Carruthers said the Bulldogs are focusing on preparing well as they sit in the captain’s seat. After all, they’ve already beaten the Mustangs 43-38 Jan. 2 and Jarrell 66-55 Jan. 6.

“We do control our own destiny,” he said. “Realistically if we want to solidify that playoff spot, we got to beat Marble on Friday.”

While the Bulldogs can focus solely on the final two games, before press time, the talk was on a road trip to Lampasas Feb. 10. And Carruthers indicated the Bulldogs were eager to return to the court following a 51-48 loss to Taylor Feb. 3 before taking a bye Feb. 6.

“They got up on us, and we had to get back in it, and we did,” the coach said. “And then, and they’re a much better team with (senior guard Kadrien Deary) on the court. He had been out for a few games. He was out and there are way better team with him than without him.”

The Bulldogs tied the game, but Taylor responded by taking a nine-point lead in the third quarter. Burnet chipped away and tied the game with about four minutes left in the contest. From there the Bulldogs suffered turnovers, poor shot selections and “just realistically didn’t didn’t do the things we needed to do to win a game,” Carruthers said..

While he credited the Ducks for their efforts, he also noted his Bulldogs didn’t play the brand of hoops they’re known for.

“We didn’t play our standard of basketball,” he said. “Just straight up, we didn’t defend well at all. And then we had a 31 percent turnover rate on our possessions, which is the highest it’s been in a district game this year. In a game where we weren’t guarding well, especially in the first half, we need to evaluate the basketball, and we just didn’t. We turned it over entirely too much and just weren’t really sharpen on decision-making down the stretch either.”