Burnet boys basketball beats Marble Falls
CAPTION: Burnet senior guard J.J. Whigham was deadly from the arc, leading all scorers with 18 points during the win against Marble Falls. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
The Burnet High School boys basketball team defeated Marble Falls 43-38 Jan. 2 in the District 24-4A opener.
It was a big road win for the Bulldogs (14-8, 1-0), who seized control of the contest in the third period.
Trailing 20-18 at the half, the Bulldogs came out firing, leaning heavily on senior shooter guard J.J. Whigham, who made a living popping 3-pointers from the right side of the court. He hit two in the third quarter, none bigger than the one that gave the Bulldogs the lead for good at 24-22.
“I just saw that first one going in and the second one and coming out of the halftime I knew I was going have a good game,” he said. “I made the first one to take the lead and after that, I knew I wasn’t going to miss.”
In fact all of Burnet’s shots in the third stanza were 3-pointers. The others came from senior guard Braven Briant from the top of the key for a 27-22 advantage with 5 minutes and 27 seconds remaining that sent the Mustangs into a timeout and from senior guard Jaxon Sparks from the right side.
Marble Falls junior forward Cooper Gray scored from the foul line on an assist from junior guard Cypress Neve to trim the deficit to 30-24 going into the final stanza.
Though the Mustangs outscored the Bulldogs 14-13, Whigman added two more 3-pointers to keep the lead. Senior forward Eli Pickens dropped in a bucket and Sparks connected on four of six free throws, while junior guard Cam Edwards added the other free throw. In all, the Bulldogs made 5 of their 8 free throws in the fourth quarter. They were 8 of 13 from the foul line and dropped nine 3-pointers for the contest.
“The third quarter really got us,” Mustangs head coach John Berkman said. “It’s one we lost and we let them loose for a bunch of 3-pointers. We knew they were going to shoot a bunch. And we knew that’s kind of their game plan. I’m really proud of our guys for the fight. We really just fought back, fought back, fought back and just couldn’t quite get over the hump. We have to rotate better so that third quarter doesn’t happen.”
The two teams played to a 10-10 tie in the first quarter and Marble Falls led by as many as four points in the second period.
Burnet assistant coach Carter Carruthers said the half-time talk was more about the defensive side because coaches believed the shots would start consistently falling in the second half.
“We were confident we could score,” he said. “We don’t ever waiver confidence in our way to score. We think we can score. We didn’t score great today. We knew this kind of game — scrappy, dogfight — we were going to have to get stops. In the locker room we just said we weren’t defending at the level we needed to defend.”
He noted the Bulldogs were better on that end. The leader was junior guard Ethan Elmore, who drew Marble Falls guard Beckett Berkman. Berkman, who averages in the double digits in scoring, finished with a pair of free throws.
“Berkman can play. We have so much respect for him as a player,” Carruthers said. “And Ethan just chased him the whole game and did a heck of a job. I thought we did a pretty good job of that.”
Gray led the Mustangs with 10 points with five coming from the foul line. Junior forward Marc Barrios added eight with five in the first period. Junior forward Vance Levert scored six, while senior center Kaleb Bielfeldt and junior guards Colby Kitchen and Cypress Neve all contributed four apiece.
John Berkman credited the Bulldogs for their defense and blamed only one person for the Mustangs not getting his son going.
“I’ve got to do a better job as a coach of putting some things in to get him the ball,” he said. “I personally don’t think there’s anybody in the district that will handle him one on one for an entire (game). That’s on me as a coach to try to figure that out for the next time we’re playing because guaranteed, they’ll do it again. It’s a team sport. We talked about that before the game. We have to have a few other guys make shots. Everybody has to play defense, including Beckett.”
Whigham, who finished with 18 points, hit at least one 3-pointer each period. What made him difficult to defend is that he never stood still. He worked the baseline from corner to corner. As he teammates drew the Mustangs, he found himself with open looks at the basket and made the defense pay. He credited head coach Juston Weldon for emphasizing movement during practices.
“My coach is always telling me so I tapped that in my head,” he said. “I think ‘good, shoot my shots.’ Everybody’s finding me and just believes we’re gonna get a show.”
“When he gets going, he’s really hot,” John Berkman said. “And we knew that, but we weren’t concerned with just him; we were concerned with him and with all their guys, because they have several guys who can do that. He just happened to be the one who got the ball.”
Sparks added nine, Briant and Pickens each contributed six, junior guard Cam Edwards scored three and junior Carter Maxwell finished with one.
One play in the final seconds of the game stuck out to Carruthers.
With under a minute left, the Mustangs shot the ball and missed. A mad dash for the ball ensued with it squirting out of two or three pairs of hands as players in white and purple and Kelly green jerseys dived to the floor to get it. As it was rolling toward midcourt, Whigham dived and Elmore recovered it, allowing Weldon to immediately call for a time out.
“We caught it and saved a possession,” Carruthers said. “To me that just emphasized the mentality that we have to play with to have success. We embrace that mentality. We want to be tougher than most teams and sometimes that’s how you have to win games.”
Whigham indicated the ride back to Burnet was going to be a happy one.
“It’s definitely a big one for the team because, again, this team right here – this is our rival, so I feel pretty good,” the senior said.
Marble Falls will welcome Salado while Burnet hosts Jarrell both on Tuesday, Jan. 6, with the subvarsities playing at 5 p.m. and the varsities at 6:30 p.m.
CAPTION: Marble Falls junior forward Marc Barrios scored half of the Mustangs’ points in the first quarter against Burnet. Photo by Martelle Ludecke/Luedecke Photography
