Bulldog boys place firs in basketball tournament
For the first time in more than a decade, the Bandera varsity boys basketball team brought a tournament championship home after claiming first place in the Comfort Tournament over the weekend.
The Bulldogs posted a perfect 4-0 record and defeated the host Comfort Bobcats 46-38 in the championship game to secure the first place plaque. Junior Noah Barnett earned Tournament MVP honors for his performances and seniors Tyler Moore and Ryan Perez were named to the All Tournament Team as well.
The weekend started with a dominant 78-35 win over Mason Thursday afternoon in a game where nine Bandera players contributed to the scoring effort. Bandera scored 11 points in the first quarter before exploding for 26 in the second and 25 in the third en route to the 43-point win. The Bulldogs had an impressive 23 assists in the win, with Ryan Perez, Joseph Kennedy and Tyler Moore finishing with 4 apiece. Noah Barnett and Kayden Brown had 3 assists each, Cale Barnett and Braden Cox had 2 apiece, and Gavin Ortiz finished with one assist. Four players, Noah Barnett (18), Kayden Brown (14), Tyler Moore (13) and Gavin Ortiz (10) each finished in double digits in scoring as well.
The Bulldogs’ championship run continued early Friday morning against Ingram. Bandera had a strong defensive performance, holding the Warriors scoreless in the second quarter and to just 17 total points. Tyler Moore finished with 15 points, Noah Barnett had 13 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists, Ryan Perez had 8 points and 4 steals, Kyle Morgan had 8 points and 3 rebounds, Braden Cox had 6 points and 6 rebounds, Eli Salas had 4 points, Gavin Oritz had 3 points, Kayden Brown had 3 points, Joseph Kennedy had 2 points and Cale Barnett finished with 2 points.
The Bulldogs survived their biggest scare of the tournament Friday afternoon against a hot-shooting Knippa squad that knocked down 11 3-point shots. Bandera buckled down defensively in the fourth quarter to secure the win and advance to the championship game, picking up a number of key stops down the stretch on the defensive end. Noah Barnett had 17 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, Tyler Moore had 14 points and 9 rebounds, Liam DeMarchi had 10 points and 11 rebounds, Ryan Perez had 6 points and Kayden Brown finished with 4 points.
In the championship game against Comfort, the Bulldogs battled through their worst shooting performance of the season by playing one of their best defensive games of the year. Bandera held Comfort to just 38 points, the Bobcats’ second-lowest total of the season, to secure the victory. Liam DeMarchi led the way with 17 points and 13 rebounds, Tyler Moore had 13 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, Noah Barnett had 8 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds and Ryan Perez finished with 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals.
The win over Comfort moved the Bulldogs to 11-4 on the season, surpassing last season’s total less than halfway through the year. Bandera is on a 6-game winning streak entering the final week of the fall semester, when the Bulldogs will travel to play Devine on Tuesday and Hondo on Friday.
Coach’s Notes: “I’m really proud of the way our team played this weekend. We did a lot of good things defensively that allowed us to overcome a couple poor shooting performances. We also produced our highest scoring output of the season and did a really good job sharing the ball in the process. We still have a long way to go to be where we want to be when district play rolls around, but our guys are making progress and playing for each other. We are excited about the opportunity to continue to get better against some tough competition over the next few weeks.”