It was quite a battle at JK Stanley Gymnasium when Van Buren County came to town to face off with the Boyd Broncos. The Eagles were able to leave with a hard-fought 55-46 victory, completing a sweep of the series this season.
Boyd lost big when it traveled up the mountain in December, but last week's matchup with the Eagles was a four-quarter slugfest. Jace Matheney set the tone early, bullying his way to buckets in the paint as he scored a season-high 19 points.
Van Buren County countered with a big game from senior Eli Scoggins, who dropped a game-high 23 points. Callyn Sullivan added 19 as the Eagles did just enough in the clutch moments to survive and upset bid from the Broncos.
"I was glad we pulled out the win," said Van Buren County Dustin Sullivan over the weekend after his team beat Boyd and followed with a win Friday over Marion County. "I hadn't been happy with our execution the last three games before (beating Marion County). I felt like we had really hit a will, but we did pull out wins on the road."
The path to victory on the road wasn't easy, especially when Boyd came out throwing haymakers. The Broncos built a 9-2 lead in the first quarter and kept it close to even until the final seconds of the first half.
"The difference (in the matchups with Van Buren County) was our mentality coming out. Lately, our kryptonite has been getting off to slow starts. We decided to simplify things going into Van Buren County and we had a good practice the night before.
"I believe that set the tone and we executed better. We had some guys step up into their potential - the potential we've known they have had the last eight months."
Matheney and sophomore Jordin Mitchell did their best to dominate the paint against the Eagles. Mitchell finished with 10 points and seven rebounds while Matheney grabbed eight boards to go along with his big scoring surge.
The return of freshman guard Jack Oliver, who had missed major time with a back injury, also buoyed the Broncos. Oliver had eight points in limited minutes.
Van Buren County changed the whole game in the final minute of the first half, exploding for six quick points to make it 27-17 at the break. Ty Measles started the run with a putback layup, then Sullivan sprinted the court for two transition layups following Boyd turnovers as the Eagles found some breathing room.
Van Buren County extended its lead up to 18 points in portions of the second half, but Oliver cut the deficit to just six in the final minute on a 3-pointer. Boyd wasn't able to get any closer though as time ran out on the Broncos as they started stampeding back into the game.
Rounding out the scoring for the Broncos was Jack Rhoton with five points, Jax Grissom with three and Connor Andrews with one.
The Eagles got four points from Measles and three points each from Rickey Howard and Cason Shadrick. Bryson Mooneyham added two points and Jack Pauken finished with one.
