Sophomore duo shines as Chaffee clinch comeback win

The Chaffee boy’s basketball team closed out the regular season with a come from behind victory over the Delta Bobcats on Saturday, Feb. 22, in Chaffee, Mo.

Nolan Fowler led the Red Devils to a 55-51 win with 19 points, followed by 18 from fellow sophomore guard Dane McMullen.

The Bobcats were led by Paxton Hornbuckle, who scored 17 points, including 12 in the first half. Isaiah Berry scored 13 points and Ryan Jeffries added 11 points for Delta.

The Red Devils were facing a 13-point deficit entering the fourth quarter. McMullen led the Chaffee rally with 15 points including three baskets from the three-point line to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Fowler led the way for the Devils in the first half with 13 points, but the rest of the team struggled to find the basket and went into halftime trailing 26-22.

Victory seemed to be at hand for the Bobcats after a third quarter in which the Delta defense held the Devils to only nine points in the period. Berry scored half of his points to lead the Bobcats to an 18-9 third quarter and a 44-31 lead entering the fourth quarter.

While the Devils were riding the hot hand of their shooting guard in the fourth quarter, the Bobcats offense ran dry. The Bobcats were only able to muster seven points in the final minutes mainly from the free throw line, where they shot 5-of-6 in the fourth quarter and 8-of-11 overall.

With the win, Chaffee concludes the regular season with a 16-9 record, its best since finishing 18-7 in 2018. Josh Govreau has been the head coach since

"I haven't had a group like this, a complete group of sophomores like this, in my tenure," Govreau said.

Chaffee enters the Class 2 District 3 Tournament as the No. 5 seed and will take on Bloomfield, the hosting team, on Monday, Feb. 24. The winner will take on No. 1 seed Puxico in the semifinals on Feb. 26.