Led by a pair of underclassmen, the Raiders might be a year away from expecting big things. But when Barker hosted the N-O leading and fifth ranked small school Panthers on Tuesday night, they played like a team that was ready for the future to begin right now.
Junior Josh Haight and his brother, freshman Jake, have lead a Barker squad that has been very competitive this season, most recently giving the Panthers all they could handle. Barker, a Class C school, is the smallest school playing in the N-O against six Class B teams and one team in Class A. The Raiders only have seven players on their roster and often only have four players in the box score. Newfane ultimately came away with a 59-50 victory to improve to 10-1 in the N-O, but it took a late run to secure the win.
Barker got a 3-pointer from junior Josh Haight to open the game and held the advantage over the Panthers for the entire first quarter, leading 18-17 after one. Senior Dan Hambruch gave Newfane its first lead of the game at the start of the second quarter when he converted a four-point play. Hambruch scored a team-high 22 points, getting 10 in each of the first two quarters, including his team's first eight of the second quarter. Newfane outscored the Raiders 15-6 in the second quarter and lead 32-24 at halftime.
Newfane was in front, 43-38, heading into the fourth quarter, when a basket from Raider senior Xavier Mann followed by a '3' from Josh Haight tied the game up. After Newfane got a pair from the free throw line, Mann scored again for Barker and with 5:17 remaining, the score was 45-45.
However, as he has done on multiple occasions in his career at Newfane, senior Rohn Pierce stepped up and led a run that would put the game away for the Panthers. Pierce broke the tie with a basket on the following possesion and then after forcing a turnover, got to the charity stripe. After sinking the first shot, his second missed. Teammate Sean Seefeldt was able to secure the rebound and quickly dished it back to a cutting Pierce, who scored on a tough drive and then completed a traditional three-point play to give Newfane a 51-45 lead. The Panthers would score the next five points before a 3-pointer from Pierce completed a 14-0 late-game run that dashed the upset hopes of the Raiders. Pierce scored 11 of his 19 points in the final quarter.
Barker head coach Dan Luckman said after the game, "I think in the end, we just ran out of gas, but I'm so proud of my guys tonight". Luckman also spoke of how much he enjoys playing against Newfane for the competition it provides his team. "I wish we could play these guys five more times to get ready for sectionals, because playing a team with that depth and talent only makes us a better team" Luckman said.
Josh Haight finished with a game-high 24 points including six 3-pointers, while Xavier Mann added 11 points.
-centercourt
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