Brophy 55
Chaparral 51
By Erik T. Masingill ’12
THE ROUNDUP
Despite a 12-point deficit at halftime, the Broncos outscored the Chaparral Firebirds 35-19 in the second half to clinch their second home victory Friday, Dec. 9 at Robson Gymnasium.
“We played defense, got some stops and made our free throws,” said head coach Mr. Tony Fuller of the team’s performance in the second half.
Although the end result was a win, the Broncos did not start as well as they would have hoped. Within the first 3:23 in the first quarter, Brophy was facing a 9-2 deficit.
The Broncos were able to score six more points in the first, but Chaparral scored eight more to end the quarter with a 17-8 lead.
After James Harper ’12 shot two free throws in the beginning of the second, Chaparral nailed two three-point shots. Brophy’s deficit grew to 23-10 with 6:21 left in the first half.
Harper scored five points to decrease the deficit to eight points, but the Firebirds matched the Broncos point for point.
After Jordan Medl ’12 hit a three-point shot with 20 seconds left in the half, the Firebirds did the same. Brophy was down 32-20 at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Broncos began their comeback with a 9-2 run to force Chaparral to take a timeout with a 34-29 lead with 4:42 left.
Chaparral only scored five more points in the third while the Broncos added 12 more.
With less than a minute left in the third, the Broncos took their first lead of the game with an alley-oop pass from Greg Patten ’12 to Harper to give Brophy the lead 41-39 at the end of the third.
At 5:25 left in the game, Chaparral regained the lead 46-43 after another three-point shot. Tim Kempton ’13 tied the score with a basket along with the and-one free throw.
However, the Firebirds countered with another three-point shot that gave them the 49-46 lead. With 1:20 left in the game, the Firebirds scored two more points to gain a five-point lead.
With a minute left, Harper nailed a three-point shot that made the deficit two points.
On the next play, Fred Gammage ’12 stole the ball and passed it to Medl who was intentionally fouled, meaning two free throw attempts and the ball.
Medl made both free throws which tied the game at 51. The next play resulted in a foul on Chaparral and two made free throws for Harper.
Chaparral missed two more three-point attempts and Harper made two more free throws to end the game with a 12-point comeback and a four-point victory for Brophy.
“We made some plays down the stretch … we made our free throws, didn’t turn the ball over and that was the game,” Mr. Fuller said.
Brophy outscored Chaparral 21-7 in the third quarter and 14-12 in the fourth quarter. The
Broncos also went 9/16 on the free throw line, making all eight free throw attempts in the second half.
Harper led the team with 25 points, 14 of them coming in the second half along with two total three-point shots.
Medl scored 12 points along with two three-point shots. Kempton came in third scoring nine points.
The Broncos improve their regular season record to 4-1 and will travel to Goldwater Tuesday Dec. 13 to take on the winless Bulldogs.
