Syracuse Loses to League Rival In final Road Game

by Ryan Thompson | February 27, 2020

The Syracuse Bulldogs Boys Basketball team travelled to Lakin on Friday, February 21st for their final road game of the season. The Bulldogs, sitting at 14-4 on the season, after coming off of their third straight win in a 69-18 trounce against Sharon Springs, the boys were seeking revenge on the Broncs. Syracuse and Lakin met up earlier this season in the semifinals of the HPL Tournament where the Broncs defeated the Bulldogs, 50-68. Lakin would go on to defeat Meade in the HPL Championship game and Syracuse would defeat Cimarron in the third place game. Both teams knew how big this matchup was. With tons of energy and a packed gym, this game was looking to be a fun one. 

The first quarter started very slow as both teams took two possessions each without scoring until Lakin’s Hunter Davis (Jr.) scored the first bucket with a breakaway layup a minute and a half into the game. Syracuse quickly answered back with a layup of their own from Drake Durler (Sr.). Both teams went back and forth for the entire first quarter. Lakin would score then Syracuse. Lakin was up almost the entire quarter. Syracuse tied it at 17-17 with about 1:10 left. The Broncs hit a layup and Syracuse failed to answer back. Lakin then held the ball and Hunter Davis hit a three at the buzzer to end the quarter with the Broncs leading 17-22.

The second quarter was mostly all Lakin. They started to pull away and got up 11 points on the Bulldogs. Syracuse was trying their hardest to break Lakin’s press but they failed several times. The Bulldogs also had trouble knocking down any shots in the second quarter. The Bulldogs went on a small run to end the half down only eight points at 31-39. 

The third quarter was more of the same from each side. Lakin knocked down shot after shot while Syracuse struggled to hit any. Lakin’s defense was the star of the third quarter as Syracuse would score only seven points in the third quarter while Lakin would score seventeen in the quarter. The Broncs led at the end of the third 56-38.

The fourth quarter was just another chapter in this book as Lakin was having no trouble hitting shots. The Broncs scored early and often thanks to Hunter Davis and Sonnie Altman (Sr.) putting on a show in the fourth. Lakin went on a 12-4 run until Syracuse finally submitted and put in the bench players to play the final three and a half minutes of the game. Syracuse would end up losing 49-79 to notch only their fifth loss of the season. Lakin would advance to 16-3 on the season and with the win, they were the HPL regular season champions with a perfect 7-0 record in league play. Hunter Davius led all scored with 32 points. Syracuse would move to 14-5 on the season. One of the Bulldogs’ bright spots of the game was Damian Ramirez (Sr.). Ramirez had 16 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists on the game. He also hit 200 points on the season. The Bulldogs play Wichita County tonight, February 27th in Syracuse. A win in that game would secure Syracuse as the 2-seed in the KSHSAA 2A Elkhart Sub-State. This game is also Senior Night for the Class of 2020.