Thatcher falls to 5A Buena in season opener

Photo By Steve Carter: Wyatt Nicholas attempts a shot over two Colts defenders. Buena upended Thatcher in its season/home opener, 63-47.

Photo By Steve Carter: Wyatt Nicholas attempts a shot over two Colts defenders. Buena upended Thatcher in its season/home opener, 63-47.

Eagles look to bounce back against 4A Douglas

By Jon Johnson

jonjohnsonnews@gmail.com

THATCHER – The Thatcher Eagles boys basketball team opened their season Monday with a 47-63 loss to the 5A Buena Colts.

The Eagles will look to bounce back on Thursday when they host the 4A Douglas Bulldogs, starting at 7 p.m.

Buena 63 Thatcher 47

The Colts came out of the gate galloping and doubled up on the Eagles 18-9 in the first period of play and put up 10 more than Thatcher in the second to go up 34-15 by halftime.

Mason Gordon got it done early for the Colts, scoring 9 of his team’s co-high 12 points in the first half. 

Photo By Steve Carter: Christian Carter bursts through the defense. Christian had a game-high 20 points.

Points were scarce for Thatcher in the first half but when they came they usually came from senior guard Christian Carter, who had half of the Eagles’ points in the first two quarters on his way to a game-high 20 for the night. 

Carter got some help in the second half from Isaac Palmer, who started bombing from deep and hit three 3-pointers to finish with 14 points. 

Photo By Steve Carter: Isaac Palmer gets around his defender. Palmer hit three 3’s and ended with 14 points.

The Eagles went virtually toe-to-toe with the Colts in the third (17-19), but Jamin Booker scored 8 of his 12 points in the period to keep the Colts in the lead. Thatcher bested them in the fourth (10-5), but it wasn’t enough to overcome the first-half margin.  

Other Eagles who scored were Braden Bryce and Wyatt Nicholas with 4 points each; Chad Johnson with 3; and Dylan Riney had 2 points.  

Photo By Steve Carter: Christian Carter shoots over his defender.

For Buena, Jesus Pacheco finished with 7 points; Adam Nelson had 6; Julian Duran and Kingston Clarke had 5 each; R.J. Molina, Sergio Flores, Julian Aguilar, and Deangelo Hawthorne had 4 points each.  

Thatcher will next host the Douglas Bulldogs on Thursday, Nov. 30, starting at 7 p.m.  

Photo By Steve Carter: Thatcher head boys basketball coach Kyle Hull shares a smile with referee Eric Blair.

Click here to view the Gila Herald’s Photo Album of the game.