Bauman helps Knoch down Mars, 67-58
A smile flashed on Knoch head coach Alan Bauman’s face as his son, Jackson, hit his second buzzer-beater of the game to give the Knights a 12-point lead walking into the final frame of their matchup with Mars Tuesday night. The basket turned out to be a key one in Knoch’s 67-58 victory
Early in the action, both teams were fighting back and forth with buckets being traded. Mars was looking to take a one-point lead into the second quarter, but Bauman was able to make his presence known as he hit a jumper as time expired to give Knoch a lead that wouldn’t be surrendered.
“Knoch is very good, they were very balanced tonight, but young Bauman looked real confident,” Carmody said. “I really thought that he dictated how the game went tonight.”
It became apparent that Mars was going to try to shut down Bauman early in the second quarter, and it worked as he only put up one point in the second quarter. But despite that, Kaden Spencer and Zane Pacek combined to put up 10 points in the quarter. As the game hit halftime, Knoch walked into the locker rooms with a ten-point edge on the scoreboard.
Mars came out fast at the start of the second, however. The Planets cut the lead to just four points just three minutes into the quarter. It seemed as if they were going to be able to claw their way back into the game, but a timeout for Knoch helped to slow that momentum.
“We just told our guys to relax, we lost our focus defensively, and we were able to get that back, Bauman said. “When we’re playing good defense, it’s no secret that you get into a rhythm offensively and that’s what happened.”
The spark truly came from Bauman’s buzzer-beater to end the quarter, and his dad recognized how energized it got his team.
“I think that was a huge moment for us, because even though we were up nine, you could tell we were wavering and questioning ourselves,” Bauman said. “From there, we were able to say ‘okay, we’re not tired, we’re good,’ and it was a real big pickup for us.’”
The fourth quarter simply came down to if Knoch was going to be able to make free throws or not. But even then, Mars cut the lead back to five points. They came within a few inches of cutting the game back down to one possession before a missed free throw turned into a Derek Lang three-pointer that all but sealed the game.
“We hit some lapses, but that’s high school basketball and it happens, but you’ve got to have a consistent effort,” Carmody said. “Towards the end we had some really good effort, but you’ve got to be able to have 32 consistent minutes of effort and we didn’t have that tonight.”
Knoch 12 20 20 15 — 67
Mars 11 11 17 19 — 58
KNOCH 67
Jackson Bauman 5 7-12 18, Derek Lang 5 3-3 16, Zane Pacek 5 3-4 13, Kaden Spencer 3 2-2 8, Teegan Finucan 4 10, Zarian Finucan 1 2. Totals: 23 15-21 67.
MARS 58
Ryan Ceh 9 1-1 22, Drew Navetta 5 2-2 15, Remi Black 2 4-8 8, Austen Wroblewski 2 6, Ian Zukowski 1 3, Blake Yates 0 1-2 1. Totals: 19 8-13 58.
Three-point goals: Knoch 6 (D. Lang 3, T. Finucan 2, J. Bauman 1). Mars 8 (D. Navetta 3, R. Ceh 3, A. Wroblewski 2).
