Boys basketball: Buckeye wastes golden opportunity in loss to Westlake

WESTLAKE — The Buckeye boys basketball team let a big one slip through its hands against Westlake in a key Cleveland West Conference game Friday. The Bucks held a double-digit lead at the half and entered the fourth in front by seven, but a fourth quarter where nothing went their way led to a 66-64 loss. Buckeye (11-7, 8-3) fell a half-game behind the Demons (12-6, 9-3) and a game behind Lakewood (9-8, 9-2) in the chase for the conference title with three games remaining. The Bucks got things rolling behind Turner Dolata to overcame an early 5-0 deficit in which Westlake didn't attempt a shot from the floor. The senior scored 10 of his 16 points in the first quarter to help the Bucks build a 17-14 lead. In the second quarter, the Bucks took full control, with Austin Hyre (20 points, 4 assists) and Jacob Snyderburn (6, 4 rebounds) each dropping a pair of 3-pointers to extend the lead to 39-27. Through the first half, the Bucks had just two turnovers and were extremely efficient at the offensive end. The lead hit the high-water mark on another triple from Hyre, as the Bucks led 50-36 with 3:10 left in the third quarter. Then the momentum started to shift and the gym got a lot louder on senior night. The Demons closed the third on a 9-2 run to cut the margin to 52-45 and rode that momentum into the fourth. "They are a good team," Hyre said. "They are going to go on runs and we are going to go on runs. It's just the game of basketball." A 7-2 run to start the fourth quarter cut the deficit to 54-53 with 6:30 left. The Bucks briefly extended to 57-53 behind a free throw split from Dolata and a finish from Derek Snyderburn (12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists) off a highlight-reel assist from Hyre with 4:38 left. Westlake went on a 10-0 run over the next 3:08, with Ryan Turk (27 points, 4-of-6 3-pointers) and Cody Gentry (9) accounting for all points. "Some things didn't go our way," Dolata said. "We made some big mistakes that cost us and some other things didn't go our way, but we can't sit there and mope about it. We have to play through it, and we didn't do that." Turk scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and was perfect on all three of his 3-point attempt to help his team finally overtake the Bucks. "We just fell asleep on some of their good players," Dolata said. "We left them open, and good players make shots. They made shots and we didn't do a very good job on the second half. That is why they were able to make the push." Buckeye had its chances to steal the game back in a wild final minute. Westlake missed a pair of free throws with 49 seconds left, followed by a Derek Snyderburn layup off a pass from Zach Stough (8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals) to pull the Bucks to 65-61. Turk split two attempts for Westlake and Derek Snyderburn picked up a monster offensive rebound and putback on the Bucks' next possession to cut to 66-63. Stough then intercepted a long pass just past midcourt and was immediately fouled. He hit the first and intentionally missed the second, but didn't hit the rim, giving possession back to Westlake with 4.8 seconds left. This time Derek Snyderburn picked off the long ball, giving the Bucks a glimmer of hope, but a long pass on the inbounds play led to a Buckeye foul and a pair of free throws for the Demons. Westlake missed both with 0.6 second left but the Bucks could only get a near full-court heave from Dolata at the buzzer. In the second half, the Bucks committed 13 turnovers and had trouble defending the perimeter as the Demons hit 7-of-13 from behind the arc after making 2-of-7 in the first half. "We had some bad turnovers," Hyre said. "We didn't handle the pressure too well." Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com. Westlake 66, Buckeye 64 BUCKEYE 17 22 13 12 — 64 WESTLAKE 14 13 18 21 — 66 Buckeye — Jacob Snyderburn 2-0-6, Derek Snyderburn 6-0-12, Turner Dolata 6-3-16, Austin Hyre 8-1-20, Logan Brown 1-0-2, Zach Stough 2-2-8, Mason Dolata 0-0-0. TOTALS: 25-6-64. Westlake — Tommy DeFranco 0-0-0, Hayden Purdy 2-2-6, Mateo Medina 1-3-6, Cody Gentry 2-5-9, Ryan Turk 11-1-27, Andrew Nash 1-0-2, Gage Carlson 4-0-12, AJ DeFazio 0-0-0, Joe Stanton 2-0-4, Gavin McMillen 0-0-0. TOTALS: 23-11-66. 3-point goals — Hyre 3, Stough 2, J. Snyderburn 2, T. Dolata, Carlson 4, Turk 4, Medina. Rebounds — Buckeye 26 (T. Dolata 10), Westlake 22 (Purdy 7). Assists — Buckeye 14 (Hyre 4), Westlake 12 (Carlson 5). Records — Buckeye (11-7, 8-3), Westlake (12-6, 9-3). Junior varsity — Westlake 39, Buckeye 33 (B: Cameron Stachewicz 16).