STANTON – With the end of the best football season in a decade, the Stanton Buffaloes have moved indoors and onto the hardwood for basketball season.
The varsity and junior varsity teams opened with the Midessa Warriors while the freshman Buffs took on Garden City.
In the varsity game, Stanton struggled much of the time with errant passes and defensive rotations. However, with only one practice under their belts against a team of gym rats, the Buffs nearly pulled out a victory.
Both Stanton and Midessa got off to a slow start with the Warriors inching out to a 6-4 lead. But a big second quarter gave Midessa the 24-15 halftime advantage.
Third quarter action was dominated by Stanton. Crisp passing and a stingy defense earned the Buffaloes the lead for a short time.
Midessa, however, would regroup and go on a little run late for the 52-45 victory.
Aidan Galaviz led Stanton with 15 points and Max Lopez netted nine.
Tyler Haas chipped in with five points while Trandon Edmondson, Jahir Galindo, Hoyt Mims, and Casey Buchannan posted three points each.
Ryan Andler and Jimmy Anderson rounded out the score books with two points apiece.
The junior varsity struggled at times as well but improved each quarter as the game progressed.
Midessa took a commanding 17-3 lead after the first quarter and stretched its advantage to 28-10 by halftime.
A different Stanton team took the floor in the second half outscoring Midessa 33-24. The impressive second half wasn’t enough as Midessa escaped with a 52-43 win.
Nic Haas led Stanton with 16 points and Luis Alvizo and Ryland Grear added 10 points each.
Marcus Ramirez had four points while Elijah Villa and Cristian Tevarez had two and one respectively.
The freshman Buffaloes had a good night against Garden City.
Both teams looked good early with Stanton edging the Bearkats 10-8 after the first quarter, but some strong defense gave the Buffaloes a 28-8 lead after three quarters.
Garden City picked up the pace in the final minutes of the game to outscore Stanton 9-8 but it was too late as the Buffs cruised to a 36-17 victory.
Benedict finished with a game high 10 points and Armendarez added eight points.
Rivas tossed in seven points while Turney had four and Cazares three.
Gleghorn and Stone ended the game with two points each.