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Bucktail boys fall to Montgomery in home basketball game

KEVIN RAUCH/For The Express Bucktail sophomore Braylon Fantaski gets a shot off over Montgomery’s Colton Hans as the Red Raiders used a sharp shooting first quarter to run away with a win and keeping the Bucks still searching for their first win of the season.

FARWELL — With Bucktail’s boys basketball team still looking for its first win of the season, the last thing the Bucks needed was Montgomery to come out sniping 3-point shots. That was exactly what the Red Raiders did, though, Friday night when Montgomery arrived in Farwell.

Logan Almeida hit three 3-pointers, Rayne Parish hit two and Gavin Moore added one in an opening first-quarter clinic en route to Montgomery’s 69-31 win.

That first quarter saw Montgomery go up, 27-12, and all but one of those deep shots came from the lower left corner of the court.

It was a better second quarter for the Bucks who did pull within 13 at 30-17 following a William Steele 3-pointer, but Montgomery outscored Bucktail, 22-12, as they ran away from the home team.

“That’s a new defense that we’re running and it’s the little things that are adding up to really hurt us,” Bucktail coach Gene Bruno said. “If we don’t get help on that skip pass, if we don’t get our hands up, that allows them to hit eight 3-point shots from that same corner.

“No excuses for tonight. Montgomery beat us by 45 points down there, but they fast breaked the heck out of us. We practiced and prepared for those fast breaks and they only had one tonight in the second half. Our kids hustled back and didn’t allow that tonight.”

The Red Raiders shooting was so on point that Bruno actually joked about them hitting three buzzer-beater shot at the end of the first, second and fourth quarters.

“Even at the buzzer, they’re banking shots in from 36 feet away,” Bruno said. “It’s not going to be your night.”

With practices at a minimum this year, Bruno said that his team is really putting in time on their own by going to the youth center and playing on their off days. The coach is adamant that for his system to work those players need to shoot a basketball year round.

Montgomery would hit a total of 12 3-point shots — four from Almeida who scored a game high 16 points. Steele paced the Bucks with a team-high of 9.

The Bucks (0-13) are down to three games remaining including Saturday afternoon when they visit Benton.

MONTGOMERY (69)

Logan Almeida 6 0-0 15; Gavin Moore 6 0-0 15; Maurice Walters 5 3-5 13; Rayne Parrish 3 0-0 9; Braiden Beachel 1 0-0 2; Coltin Hans 2 0-0 5; Austin Kuhn 1 1-2 3; Jacob Walters 2 1-3 6. Totals 26 5-8 69.

BUCKTAIL (31)

Steele 3 2-2 9; Braylon Fantaski 2 1-2 7; Dylan Cross 2 1-1 6; Brett Mason 1 1-3 4; Cole Hillyer 1 1-2 3; Kyler Friese 1 0-0 2. Totals 10 7-10 31.

Montgomery 27 22 15 5 — 69

Bucktail 12 10 0 9 — 31

3-point goals: Montgomery 11 (Almeida 4, Moore 3, Parrish 3, Walters 1), Bucktail 2 (Steele 1, Cross 1)

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