Boys basketball: Branson fades late in D-III title game

The Branson School boys basketball team was somewhat out of sync to begin with in Friday night’s North Coast Section Division-III title tilt.

By the time Cornerstone Christian’s 6-foot, 8-inch James Perry was through with the Bulls, they were in full-blown tilt.

Perry scored a game-high 35 points – 15 coming in the pivotal fourth quarter – as the Cougars denied Branson’s bid for a repeat NCS D-III title with an 81-65 victory.

In the only other meeting between the schools this season Branson defeated Cornerstone Christian (Antioch) 49-46 on Dec. 27.

Both teams advance to the NorCal tournament. Seeding will be determined Sunday.

“The problems started early for us,” Branson coach Demetrius Roquemore. “For some reason we kind of didn’t take the game seriously, maybe because we had beaten them before. Whatever the reason, it’s hard to win when you let a guy score 35 points.”

The mega-points output by Perry might not have been enough – Branson junior star NJ Gray countered with 33 points of his own – but the supporting cast at Cornerstone proved the difference.

Only one other Branson player reached double-figures (Gabe Halbrecht, 11 points) while the Cougars also featured Ben Lukacs and sharpshooter Amari Woodard, who combined for an additional 28 points.

“We should’ve played our game,” Gray said. “We were doing stuff – especially on defense – we don’t normally do. And we gave up a lot of second-chance baskets.”

Perry was a tower of power in the paint, spinning left, right and down the middle for an array of easy layups. Surprisingly quick and agile for a big man, Perry added five rebounds and four steals.

“(Perry) is super consistent,” Gray said. “He converts most of his shots in the paint and he makes most of his throws when he’s fouled. But it was no surprise to us. We knew he was good.”

Roquemore was especially disappointed in his team’s defensive performance.

“We just didn’t do a good job on defense,” Roquemore said.

The game never really got out of hand for the Bulls (18-15) until late in the fourth quarter. Although Branson led only once, 2-0 in the first minutes on Gray’s steal and layup, the Bulls mostly stayed within striking distance.

Branson actually crept to within three points in the third quarter even with Gray on the bench with foul trouble.

Braxton Armstrong, who had two blocked shots in the second quarter, was a man on a mission in the third, yanking down five rebounds and scoring five points.

But the Bulls never evened the score. They pulled as close as three points on the first possession of the fourth period – Gray converted two free throws – but faded from that point on.

When Cornerstone went on a 7-0 run midway through the period, Branson had no answer despite Gray’s 15 points in the final eight minutes.

“Cornerstone did a really good job disrupting our flow early,” Roquemore said. “They were just better than us tonight.”