By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The East Buchanan Bulldog boy's basketball team overcame being down by as many as 14 points to defeat the Mid-Buchanan Dragons 73-66 in the Class 3 District 15 championship game, winning their second straight district title.
East Buchanan opened the scoring in the first quarter, a three pointer by Seth Spencer, but after that it was all Mid-Buchanan with the Dragons going on a 12-0 run until Bulldogs head coach Michael Carpenter called a timeout. The timeout allowed the right time to adjust and for East Buchanan to start clawing back, ending the first quarter trailing 23-18.
Both teams continued going back and forth in the second quarter, a strong and physical effort by the Dragons forcing the Bulldogs into several turnovers, and Mid-Buchanan held their lead at halftime 41-31.
Things continued to go bad for East Buchanan to start the second half, falling behind by 14 points at one point to Mid-Buchanan. But the Bulldogs did not stop fighting, as senior Isaiah Watkins turned a switch and took the game into his own hands, helping to pull East Buchanan back to within five at 54-49.
Watkins hot hand continued into the final quarter, scoring the first five points to tie the game up, before East Buchanan took their first lead since the start of the game, leading 61-58 with just under five minutes remaining and forcing Dragons head coach Bryce Kemper to call a timeout.
The Bulldogs and Dragons exchanged the lead a couple more times before East Buchanan pulled away for good and earned the win.
"I don't even know, I've been telling our assistant coaches I'm not sure how we came back and got that," Carpenter told reporters following the game. "I know Isaiah got hot and then we kind of cut it back and our boys did an awesome job of fighting, I couldn't be more proud of them."
"There's been a lot of times we're playing MId-Buchanan and we get down and they just keep us there, but to show that fight and do that I couldn't be more proud, that was a crazy game."
Watkins led East Buchanan with 21 points. Clark Scott scored 17 and Spencer added 12. For Mid-Buchanan Chris Kowalewcyz led with 17.
It will be a short turnaround for East Buchanan as they play Lexington on Monday in Gower for sectionals. Tipping off at 6:30pm.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.