Colby Jones made a clutch shot to lock up the regional game as the Rainmakers senior boys’ basketball team beat Caledonia 58-56 last Saturday in a play day.
“Colby Jones hit a big three [point shot] for us late,” said
While the Rainmakers were down much of the first quarter and the game, they used their shooting to get back in it.
Ryan Kunar from Caledonia caused problems for Charles Hays with his quickness on and off the ball. It seemed like there was more cohesion from the Rainmakers as they used give and go’s to get easy baskets.
Ben Rabel used his size inside, going up strong to make a couple easy buckets for the ‘Makers. The game was tied at the half, and it felt like it would be decided by a basket or two.
“I thought both teams played hard defensively [and] competed. I thought we probably turned the ball over too much, but it was a pretty exciting game,” Bishop said.
Turnovers caused by solid defence from Caledonia and a lack of interior rebounding by the Rainmakers led Caledonia out to their biggest lead of the game, seven points.
Quinn Leighton answered back with a big block at the defensive end and scored a couple buckets, lifting the team.
This set the stage for Jones as he elevated and hit a three-pointer with minutes left, sealing the win for the Rainmakers.
Caledonia had a chance to foul with 18 seconds left, but elected to wait.
The Charles Hays player missed both free throws, so Caledonia had a chance to tie, but with only six seconds left they couldn’t get the ball up the court fast enough to get off a quality look.
“We hit some big shots late. We ran some high-low stuff, and we missed some easy ones too. I think Mitchell Nelson played some tremendous defence on 11 from Caledonia. They are missing their big guy, and we’re missing Justin McChesney and Skyler Wesley, so we both don’t have our full squads here. It’s going to be interesting this year at zones up at Terrace, it should be good, it’s a good rivalry,” Bishop added.