Buckfield’s Gavin Charest rips down a rebound in a Class C South boys basketball postseason play-in game in Buckfield on Saturday night. Tony Blasi/Sun Journal
BUCKFIELD — Every time Buckfield’s big man Gavin Charest leaped up for a rebound it looked like he was involved in a four-car pileup underneath the Telstar net.
Charest took his lumps all night inside the key, but he shrugged it off since his Bucks slipped away with a 50-41 win over rough-and-tumble Telstar in a Class C South boys basketball postseason play-in game on Saturday night.
The 16th-seeded Bucks (3-15) go on to face top-seeded Winthrop (14-4) on Wednesday. No. 17 Telstar finished its season at 3-15.
“It was rough out there. (The Rebels) weren’t give us much, but we earned it,” said Charest, who scored the team-high 11 points, pulled down 19 rebounds and blocked seven shots. “It was a team effort tonight. (The Rebels) played hard. They are a strong team. They didn’t let us have anything.”
Buckfield basketball coach Ryley Flynn was proud of Charest’s efforts off the boards and on defense.
“(Gavin) was an animal tonight,” Flynn said. “He had an overall excellent game.”
Ayden Jefferson (nine points) was also fearless, driving into heavy traffic and getting bounced around inside the key.
“I like to be aggressive and draw fouls from the other team,” Jefferson said. “(Telstar) played aggressive. They packed the paint. We played pretty aggressive to it, and I am proud of our team.”
“He is an absolute stud of getting (the ball) to the rim,” Flynn said. “He creates opportunities for others and can finish at the rim. He is a great guy to have.”
Buckfield’s Ayden Jefferson drives around Telstar’s Tristan Pelletier in Buckfield on Saturday night. Tony Blasi/Sun Journal
The Bucks built a 24-20 lead at halftime, knowing that their four-point cushion wouldn’t be enough to subdue the Rebels, who would later climb within one point of Buckfield and jolted the Bucks in the third quarter.
That’s when Flynn gave his Bucks a halftime speech about refocusing.
“When they play at what they are good at, they are a great team,” Flynn said.
But the Bucks stepped it up late in the third quarter to build a 39-32 lead. They carried that momentum into the fourth quarter, with Charest making a big block and then turning in a three-point play. Buckfield started getting some looks from the perimeter, allowing Zach Shields (six points) and Ty White (10 points) to each score a 3-pointer.
“The boys never gave up,” Flynn said. “They gave it everything they had and left it all on the court, which is exactly what I asked when we went into the game.”
Telstar never called it quits and closed within nine points before the final buzzer sounded. Brayden Stevens threw in the game-high 14 points and teammate Frankie Campra helped out with 10 points.
Telstar’s Levi Cole-McDonnell (32) and Franie Campra leap into the air to stop Buckfield’s Jaiden Jack from getting a shot off in Buckfield on Saturday night. Tony Blasi/Sun Journal
“I love the way we didn’t quit,” Telstar coach Ryan Kimball said. “You know, that’s what I told the boys in the locker room. We could have laid down when it was 20-4. … I called a timeout and so I brought them in and I said, ‘Boys, it is one basket at a time. It is one stop at a time. You can’t think big picture right now. You just have to keep fighting — and they did.
“It is hard to dig out of a 16-point hole on the road, no matter who you are and where you are.”
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