It was Senior Night for the Williston boys basketball team on Thursday night against visiting Buchholz. However, it was an opposing junior who stole the spotlight.
Buchholz junior Jacob Bromirski hit five shots behind the arc in the opening quarter as the Bobcats defeated the Red Devils, 64-44, behind a season high 13 3-pointers.
“When we can shoot it like that, man, that’s a plus,” said Buchholz coach Elliot Harris. “We’re tough to beat when we can shoot the ball like that.”
Following a right wing 3-pointer by senior Ezra Olmedo (12 points) for a 15-9 Buchholz lead, Williston senior Traeston Armstrong answered with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it a one possession game.
Armstrong (9 points) was one of three seniors honored before the game.
“Two of the young men (Marcus Appling & Ke’Marion Ross) have been with our program since I’ve been here, so you know it’s tough,” said Williston coach Jim Ervin, whose team dropped to 15-7. “And then the other one, Trae Armstrong, has been with us a couple of years. We build good relationships with kids, and the game doesn’t really matter at times. It’s more about what they are as young men, so when they leave here I’m going to be proud of who they are.”
Early on the game was tight, with six lead changes in the first three minutes of the first quarter.
But the 3-point line helped create separation late in the opening period.
Bromirski hit his fourth 3-pointer from the top of the key with 45 seconds to play in the first quarter for a 21-14 lead, and he knocked down a 3-ball from the left wing with three seconds to play for a 26-14 advantage after the first eight minutes of the game.
“We want to play an upbeat style,” Harris said. “We want to push tempo, and Jacob is a 41% shooter, but I think he went up to 50 tonight. He was just feeling it from all over the place.”
Williston closed the gap to five, 26-21, in the first two minutes of the second quarter and ended a 7-0 run on a reverse layup by 6’5 junior forward Jaden Magee, who scored a team-high 18 points.
The Bobcats (17-6) took their largest lead of the first half with 1:23 remaining following a technical foul on Ervin. Buchholz senior point guard Lucas Bhatia made both free throws for a 36-22 lead.
The Red Devils opened the scoring in the second half with a dunk by Magee and a free throw by sophomore Treston Jones to trim the Buchholz lead to 38-27.
However, a top of the key 3-ball by Bromirski, a left corner 3-pointer by Bromirski, which gave him a game-high 21 points, and a layup by Olmedo quickly put the Bobcats up 46-30 with five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
“We knew that they would be tough in the second half, come out and just be physical,” Harris said. “And I’m proud of my team that we were able to withstand that and play through that because it was a tight game up until we pulled off, and we had some tough shots, played tough, Ezra got a backdoor layup, and we just executed. We were able to pull off at the end.”
A left corner 3-pointer by Bhatia (16 points) opened it up to a 19-point lead, 51-32, with 3:26 remaining in the third quarter. Less than two minutes later, 6’4 junior Daniel Muchnick (5 points) hit the 13th 3-pointer of the night from the top of the key for a 58-36 lead.
Both teams will be a No. 2 seed in their respective district tournaments next week, but the Bobcats and Red Devils have one regular season game remaining on Friday.
Buchholz (Class 6A-District 3) will play at Fort White, while Williston (Rural District 7) travels to Class 6A Wiregrass Ranch (Wesley Chapel).
