Boys basketball’s historic, record-breaking season finally came to an end with a 62-55 loss to Magruder March 2 in the regional semi-final playoff game, which was the furthest CHS has made it in 32 years.
CHS kept it close the entire game against the second-seeded Colonels. The Bulldogs jumped out to an early four-point lead in the first quarter, but Magruder took the lead in the second quarter and never gave it up.
“We needed to contest their guards better,” sophomore Dominique Williams said. “Their guards hit a lot of three’s early which hurt us.”
In the game, junior Thomas Geenen had a career high 18 points, and junior Christian Bonaparte added eight points, five rebounds and four assists, including going four for four from the foul line in the fourth quarter. Geenen and Bonaparte played a major role in keeping the game close in the second half by scoring and breaking the Colonels full-court pressure.
“Even though we lost, we played a good game,” senior captain Will Lewis said. “Geenen and Bonaparte did a great job running our offense and playing defense.”
Lewis played strongly in both playoff games. He scored 10 points against Magruder and led CHS in scoring with 15 in the 53-43 win over WJ at home Feb. 28. CHS received a bye in the first round and beat WJ in the regional quarterfinals to move the Bulldogs to their first “Sweet 16” appearance since 1979.
The Bulldogs started hot and jumped out to a 15-6 lead in the first quarter and never let WJ catch them. Junior Sam Edens added 14 points off the bench. CHS chased many loose balls including an acrobatic dive by Geenen to save the ball from going out of bounds.
“Rebounding has hurt us in the past and we fixed that problem,” head coach Matthew Miller said. “We could have taken care of the ball a little bit better but we found open shooters, knocked down big shots and we hustled for every loose ball.”
Next year, the Bulldogs will lose seniors Jordan Bass, Jesse Simon and Lewis, but 10 players will return, giving the team depth for next season.
“I’m not satisfied yet,” Williams said. “It was a great season, but next year we will have more experience and we have the potential to do better.”
