Cowboys win over Gold-Burg, 44-26

Getting five days of practice must seem like a dream to Bryson Cowboys basketball coach Jeff Browning.

During a postgame conversation, he learned that Gold-Burg had just two hours of practice before its season opener Tuesday, Nov. 15 against the Cowboys. The Bears held tough in the second half, but a Bryson 12-0 run to start the game was enough to get the squad enroute to a 44-26 victory.

Browning said while there’s a lot of work to do yet, he saw a lot of positives.

“I liked our hustle all night long,” Browning said. “We’re young, but we return everyone from last year. We have a lot of things to work on, but a lot of time to do it.”

In the Cowboys’ season opener versus Midway, the squad worked on its man-to-man offense because of what Midway does. With Gold-Burg doing more zone offense, Browning was forced to switch some things around.

Baskets by Caleb Allen paced the early Bryson offense with help from Chance Hand, Cash Bowen and an Evan Ford three-pointer. The visitors closed strong going on a 7-0 run over the last 1:47 of the frame to stay in the game.

Another run, this one a 15-2 string would eventually help put the game away for the hosts. Five points from Jameson Pierce and four from Bowen paced the run which had the ‘Pokes up 27-9 with 2:50 left in the half. Bryson shot 37% from the field in the first two quarters (11-30) to lead by 18 heading into the locker room.

The squads matched each other point for point in the third until a pair of late baskets enabled the Bears to stay within striking distance down 10. Balanced scoring from the Cowboys had five players scoring two points each in the quarter to stay up 37-23 heading to the fourth quarter.

Neither team scored until a Ford bucket with more than three minutes gone by in the final frame. Good defense and rebounding from junior Tyler Cotter kept the visitors from making a run late.

Gold-Burg missed its first nine shots of the frame before burying a three late, the Bears only points of the frame.

Allen’s three-pointer and a Bowen bucket in the waning moments helped Bryson finish strong.

A balanced offensive attack for Bryson was led by Allen with 11 points, Bowen with 10 tallies and 16 rebounds, Ford adding nine and Pierce eight.

Aidan Foster paced the visitors with 10 points.