Buena Fails to Capitalize Early In Bid to Clinch Channel Title

Too many missed scoring opportunities, particularly in the first half, proved fatal to the Buena High boys’ basketball team in its Channel League showdown Tuesday night against visiting Dos Pueblos.

Buena could have clinched a share of its first league title since 1992 with a victory, but the Bulldogs missed numerous high-percentage shots in the first half of a 63-57 loss.

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak in league for Buena (15-10, 4-3) and left the Bulldogs a game back of first-place Dos Pueblos (15-6, 5-2) with one game left in the regular season.

“We rushed it too much in the first half,” said Buena point guard Roosevelt Bolden. “We had plenty of open looks, but nothing was falling.”

Bobby Meyer of Buena hit a three-point shot with 3:39 left in the second quarter to cut the Bulldogs’ deficit to 24-20. But Dos Pueblos scored the next 14 points of the game to take a 38-20 lead with 7:40 left in the third quarter.

Four of Buena’s eight misses during that stretch came on shots of seven feet or closer. Three turnovers didn’t help.

In contrast, Dos Pueblos hit four of six shots and was four of four from the free-throw line during that span.

“We dug ourselves into a hole and couldn’t get out of it,” Bolden said.

Buena cut its deficit to 49-42 at the end of the third quarter, but the Bulldogs could draw no closer until Bolden made a three-point shot with three seconds to play.

“Every time we came back, they answered the call,” Buena Coach Glenn Hannah said. “They had an answer to everything we did.”

Bolden, a 5-10 senior, scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and had seven assists and five steals.

Guard Ryan Cobos scored 12 points, all on three-point shots, for Buena. Center Matt Colton had 11 points and 15 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Cobos also had five steals.

Steve Graybill scored 21 points for Dos Pueblos, which played without 6-foot-6 center Scott Roegner, who broke his right hand Monday in practice and is out for the season.

Without Roegner in the middle, the Chargers got seven rebounds each from Graybill, Damon Jenkins, A.J. Ortiz and Omar Cowan. Jenkins scored 12 points and Ortiz had 10.