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(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Obed Trejo cuts to the basket Friday, Feb. 27. Trejo was a pivotal scorer in the second half for the Steers. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Bryce Martin passes the ball to Thomason Burkett Friday, Feb. 27. Both the Martin brothers will be returning to the Steers next season. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Cooper Corley drives to the basket Friday, Feb. 27. Corley was a pivotal offensive player across both of Graham’s playoff games.
After their historic win in bi-district play, the Steers traveled out to Wichita Falls Memorial High School for their second round area matchup against the Burkburnett Bulldogs.
Despite the fact that the Steers did their best to put up a strong fight against the Bulldogs, they ultimately proved to be too much for Graham as the Steers fell in the game 98-59.
Coming into the contest, the Steers already had a tall task ahead of them in taking down the Bulldogs.
Burkburnett had been riding high all season, finishing with a 29-5 record and finished in second in their district with a 12-2 record.
Their largest win of the season came in a 115-43 win over Castleberry and they had 13 wins on the season where they scored 90 points or more coming into the game against Graham.
Despite all of this riding against Graham in the game, the team managed to hang in with the Bulldogs in the first quarter, only trailing by six points 20-14.
Cooper Corley picked up right where he left off in the bi-district round with a layup to tie the score 2-2. After Burk went on an 8-0 run, Corley responded again, drawing a foul and hitting a free throw to make it 10-3 Bulldogs.
Burk went on another scoring run before Jagger Nees responded with a layup.
The Steers kept attacking the basket to make it a 10 point game.
Eventually, Corley, Nees and Thomason Burkett put on further pressure inside the arc to keep it a contest.
Corley and Burkett continued crashing the glass in the second quarter and Brodie Martin got in on the scoring with a layup to make it a fourteen point game 38-24.
Unfortunately for the Steers, the third quarter was when the Bulldogs really started to separate on the scoresheet to run away with the win.
Despite the loss, head coach Quinton Fossett was proud of what the team accomplished this year and looks forward to the future of the Steers’ basketball program.
“We won 20 games for the first time since 2019, we won a playoff game for the first time since 2019. I just wish we had more time with the seniors. The future is bright and it’s very encouraging to see us win a playoff game,” Fossett said.
