Celebrating a career milestone is supposed to be fun, but Christian Barrett’s 1,000th point came in the same game which ended his junior season.
Barrett topped 1,000 points in the first half of the Boyd Broncos’ game against Christian Community, but a disastrous fourth quarter cost the Broncos.
In the Middle Tennessee Athletic Tournament quarterfinals, the Broncos were outscored 24-2 in the final quarter as the team lost 50-25 to Christian Community.
Thursday’s MTAC tournament game was supposed to be a chance for Barrett to eclipse a milestone while avenging a loss six days prior to Christian Community.
Both looked promising in the first half. Barrett came into the game needing five points to reach 1,000 points and he got it in the second quarter when he sank a free throw.
It was part of a seven-point first half for the junior as the Broncos went into halftime trailing 15-12.
Boyd stayed close with Christian Community when the second half started as the game went into the fourth quarter with the Broncos down 26-23. The final period would be a disaster though.
The Broncos got only one basket in the final quarter, a bucket from eighth-grader Philip Brock, as Christian Community doubled up Boyd.
It was a similar scenario as last Friday, when Christian Community outscored Boyd 22-7 to run the Broncos off their home court.
Coach Chris Sullens was disappointed with the way the season ended, especially with another late collapse. Sullens does see promise in the future though as the Broncos return their whole team, including Barrett.
“We have to get mentally tougher in late-game situations,” said Sullens. “We played that team twice to end the season and it was 66-60 in the first three quarters, but they outscored us by 37 in the fourth quarters.
“It’s a learning process and something to work on. We have everybody coming back and the kids will be physically stronger. The question will be if we can be tougher mentally to finish.”
Barrett is the second 1,000-point scorer in two years for the Broncos. J.T. Morgan accomplished the feat in his seanior year last season. Barrett is the first player since Tyler Hillis to reach the milestone as a junior at Boyd.
Junior Jake Driver led Boyd with 10 points, followed by Barrett with seven. Brock, Devin Terry, Collin Stubblefield and Taven Newport scored two points each.
The Broncos finished their second MTAC season with a 6-13 record.