Michael Pineda
VELMA — Twice had the Bray-Doyle Donkeys held a late lead over the Velma-Alma Comets this season. And twice the Comets ended up on the winning side of the scoreboard.
Friday night looked to be the same story, but a different ending was written as the Donkeys held off a furious Comet comeback to win 55-52 and move within one game of a conference championship.
The Lady Donkeys also knocked off Velma-Alma in the girls game, 44-29. Bray-Doyle overcame an ice cold first quarter and shook off the rust of not playing in over a week to score 29 second half points to put the Lady Comets away.
Kendra Balthrop provided a spark off the bench in the early going for the Lady Donkeys. Bray-Doyle scored five points in the first quarter, but Balthrop rallied the troops with seven points in the first half.
The Lady Donkeys took a 15-10 lead at the break. Beka Gates and Sarah Justus got Bray-Doyle rolling in the second half. Gates hit three 3-pointers and Justus scored 13 of her 17 points in the half to lead the Lady Donkeys to victory.
“Kendra was a real spark for us in the first half,” Lady Donkey coach Jaicee Powers said. “Defensively, we played well all game but couldn’t convert our shots into points. The girls kept playing hard and they all started getting a little more confident. I was really proud of how they played hard the whole game.”
Gates finished with 11 points and Balthrop added nine for the Lady Donkeys who improved to 14-6. Velma-Alma was led by Kaitlin Anderson with nine points. The Lady Comets fell to 10-9.
The Bray-Doyle boys seemed to have the game in hand when Josh Turner put back a missed Corbin Byford 3-pointer to give the Donkeys a 51-38 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
The Comets’ intensity picked up and a barrage of turnovers meant easy baskets for Velma-Alma. Freshman Dallen Mercer took a steal to the hoop and dished it off to Frank Johnson for the lay-up. Mercer stole another pass and finished the play himself. Dillon Dennis grabbed another Donkey turnover and passed to Mercer underneath the basket. Mercer’s lay-up brought the score to 55-50 with :38 to go.
“Our guys have got to learn how to handle the pressure,” Donkey coach Darian Dickson said.
Logan Mayes missed the front end of a one-and-one and Mercer hit a jump shot on the other end to bring the Comets within three.
Hayden Dickson threw away a pass with 7.3 seconds remaining and the Comets had one shot to send the game to overtime.
However, Mayes tipped a pass away and the Donkeys prevailed to move to a winner take all conference championship game with Healdton Monday night.
“This win gives us confidence and we understand that we can do what we want to do even after having not played in a while,” said Dickson. “Now that we got the win, we can’t be complacent. We have to have the same drive and the same motivation going forward.”
Bray-Doyle moved to 16-4 with the win. Byford led the Donkeys with 28 points. Velma-Alma dropped to 15-4 and out of the conference championship race. Mercer scored 18 points to lead the Comets. Trenten Files added 14 and Johnson had 11.
- Ben Whitehead is a sports writer for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 255-5354, Ext. 165, or via e-mail at ben.whitehead@duncanbanner.com.
