Friday night, the Boyd Broncos won three out of four quarters against the Providence Christian Academy Lions, but it was that one quarter they lost that ultimately decided the outcome.
After defeating the Lions by eight points in December, the Broncos fell to them on senior night by seven, 76-69.
The fourth quarter would be the highest scoring period for both teams as Boyd battled to erase a 13-point deficit and Providence did the same to try and protect it. With :52 left, Isaiah Blanton connected on a driving three-point play which brought the Broncos back to within six points, 69-63.
Then with :35 left, Tyler Judkins connected on two free throws to bring the Broncos to within five, 70-65. But despite their best efforts and outscoring the Lions by six in the final quarter, the 13-point deficit created before halftime proved to ultimately be too great for Boyd to overcome, as the final score would show 76-69.
The first frame looked good for the home team as senior Colin Stubblefield exploded for 13 of his game-high 23 points. His pull-up jumper was on fire as he connected for five two-point field goals and one three. Trey Cantrell connected on a three of his own and Tyler Beaty, getting a putback bucket, put the Broncos up, 19-13, going into the second quarter. Aside from key player Edgar Morales leaving the first quarter due to injury, all looked to be going well for the home team.
That is when Providence unleashed a ferocious Lion into the contest. Providence inserted new Oakland High School transfer Isaiah Eguaebor, who made his presence known immediately and for the entire second frame and scored 12 of his team-high 21 points.
Eguaebor’s ability to penetrate and finish through contact, as well as his ability to seemingly hit jumpers from anywhere on the court, caught the Broncos off guard and Providence would outscore the home team by 19 points in the quarter. The teams went into the locker rooms with the Lions up 42-29 and the Broncos needing to hit the reset button.
Coach Buddy Majors brought Boyd out for the second half refocused and ready to fight. The teams went toe-to-toe for most of the period and with :28 left in the third, Cantrell connected on another 3-pointer to tie the two teams for the period at 14 points each, but this still gave Providence 56-43 advantage going into the final eight minutes.
Even with this loss, Boyd maintains the top spot in its division of the MTAC with a 9-1 conference record, while Providence has two losses in conference. The Broncos were back on the road Tuesday night visiting Riverside Christian Academy. Results were unavailable at press time.
BRONCO SCORING – Colin Stubblefield 23, Tyler Beaty 14, Tyler Judkins 13, Isaiah Blanton 10, Trey Cantrell 9
LION TOP SCORERS - Eguaebor 21, David Shepard 17, Jake Johnson 14