Britton 8th grade boys basketball team never says die as they
defeat the Chaboya Colts
Morgan Hill – The Britton Bobcats 8th grade boys basketball team wasn’t used to having to come from behind for a win. On Thursday evening, however, the undefeated Bobcats fought back in front of a packed house at Britton’s gym and battled through three overtime periods to defeat the Chaboya Colts, 57-55, for the championship game.
Britton’s 8th grade team has posted a record of 47-1 in the two years at the middle school, including the 2005 championship when they were 7th graders. The Bobcats one loss came at the hands of Chaboya in a preseason matchup.
“It’s nice to be king of the hill and enjoy it. I’m not ready to say goodbye to them,” said Britton coach Jim Green, who has been coaching at Britton for 11 years. “We had 47 wins in two years and no technical fouls. We never had the lead in the overtime periods, but they remained composed and calm. They weren’t mad at the officials.”
The Bobcats entered the first overtime period tied with Chaboya at 40-40. After trading buckets through most of the period, Chaboya took a 48-45 lead with a 3-pointer with less than 40 seconds remaining.
Following a Bobcat timeout, Charley Bynum hit a 3-pointer from the left corner of the arc to tie Chaboya at 48-48 and send the game into a second overtime.
Both defenses stiffened in the second overtime and niether team had a bucket for the first two minutes. Chaboya went up 50-48 with one minute left in the period with a lay up. Britton answered with a lay up of its own to retie the game at 50-50. The Colts once again hit a 3-pointer with 20 seconds on the clock and could almost taste the victory.
Britton would once again deny Chaboya as Brian Bradley hit a 3-pointers with seven seconds to send the game into the third and final overtime period tied at 53-53.
In the third overtime Chaboya struck first with a field goal to lead 55-53. Matt Carroll tied the game at 55-55 for the Bobcats by hitting two free throws. Then with 11 seconds remaining Chris Bradley forced a steal and Ryan Williams put in the lay up to give the Bobcats the 57-55 victory and championship.
