"I guess it was Gonzalez," said Bucklin boys basketball coach Rob Scott said when asked about the difference in the game between his Red Aces and the Deerfield Spartans in the first round of the Cimarron Bluejay Invitational. "He shoots two guarded threes, and just nothing but net."
Deerfield guard David Gonzalez hit two 3-pointers with a hand in his face in the final minute of Tuesday's game to preserve the Spartans' 47-42 win in the tourney. The first, with 55 seconds remaining, gave Deerfield a 41-40 lead and answered Bucklin's Cody Davis' long lead pass to Bubba Kreutzer for a lay-in that put the Red Aces up 40-38.
The second came with less than 30 seconds left in the contest and gave Deerfield its final lead, 44-42. Gonzalez made 3-of-4 free throws in the waning seconds to preserve the 47-42 victory.
The Deerfield senior settled for some questionable perimeter jumpers early in the game but put some early misfires out of his mind as the game wound down.
"I tried not to think about it," said Gonzalez, who led all scorers with 24 points in the nail-biter. "Because I think that's what my problem was in the first half. When I'm not thinking about the shot, I shoot it better."
"He's our leader," added Spartan coach Shane Burns. "We go as he goes. David knew he pretty much had to carry the load tonight, and I'm just excited for our guys."
The first-round bout was neck-at-neck from the start. The Red Aces looked to push the tempo early and took a 10-6 lead after the first quarter.
But getting out in transition and forcing the tempo are two different things. The Aces dropped passes and missed shots inside while trying to run in the second quarter.
"We were wanting to run fast and be fast," Scott said. "But I told them not to be in a hurry. We just didn't catch some passes that were pretty good passes and just didn't convert when we needed to."
The Spartans took their first lead on a Julio Gonzalez (David's younger brother) spin move in the lane. Julio added 17 points for the Spartans.
Deerfield went into the intermission with a slim 19-17 lead.
But the Red Aces answered the Spartans' surge on the first possession of the second half. Kreutzer drove to the basket for two of his 12 points to tie the game at 19.
Bucklin took the lead back 23-21 with six minutes remaining in the third frame on a Steven Pena drive. Pena led the Aces in scoring with 13 and pulled down five boards.
But the Gonzalez brothers came up big for Deerfield in the third quarter.
Julio scored two straight buckets inside at one point. Later, David scored five straight to give Deerfield its largest lead of the game to that point, 32-27.
The fourth quarter went back and forth as well, but Deerfield had the 47-42 lead when it mattered and will face Cimarron Thursday in the semifinals of the tournament. Bucklin will face Healy in the consolation bracket.
CIMARRON —
