CUMBERLAND – Things didn't come nearly as easy for the Buckingham County High School boys basketball team in its rematch against Cumberland on Wednesday night at the CHS Gymnasium, but despite trailing for most of the game came through when they needed it the most to steal a 45-41 victory over the Dukes.

The Knights, defeated the Dukes 75-33 on January 4 in Buckingham.

Tuesday's game was a shade closer.

“We knew it was going to be tough here,” said BCHS head coach Russ Gowin. “It's easy to say that we may have been overlooking them by just looking at the final score, but we know how close our games have always been in Cumberland. Tyrone [Mosby] has his team playing as well as anyone we're facing right now, and they showed they will be a tough out down the road.”

“We really didn't set a goal as far as how many points we allowed, but I would've been happy coming in knowing we held them to 45,” said Mosby. “We sure would've liked more than 41, of course.

Cumberland took the lead early in the game and held onto it well into the fourth quarter. The Dukes led 21-19 at the half, and were up 33-28 at the end of the third quarter after a short jumper by Keandre Jones.

With senior captain Cam Johnson saddled with foul trouble for most of the night, Buckingham's Tim Randolph carried the Knights in Johnson's absence. Randolph and Kyre Koonce kept BCHS close early in the fourth, and with 3:35 remaining, Randolph gave BC its first lead at 38-37 on a ten foot jumper along the baseline.

After scoring on another short shot, Randolph came away with a block and rebound on the defensive end at the three minute mark. The Knights were unable to convert on their next offensive opportunity, but the tone was well set.

Dione Booker cut the BCHS lead back to a point at 40-39 on a floater with 2:44 remaining, but the Knights, who struggled from both the floor and foul line all night, came up big at the stripe down the stretch.

Dre Scott hit one of two foul shots with 1:17 left and then hit both ends of a one-and-one with 40.2 seconds left to push BC's lead to 43-39.

Booker scored with 30.5 seconds left, but was unable to convert on a three-point-play opportunity, and Johnson, whose foul trouble forced him into a spectator role for most of the night, put the game out of reach with 23.0 seconds left by hitting both ends of his one-and-one opportunity.

Cumberland had two more cracks at the basket, but was unable to get anything to fall.

“We couldn't hit much all night, from either the field or foul line, but Dre and Cam came through with the game on the line,” said Gowin. “This game says a lot about the character of our team. It wasn't our best game, but we kept at it and found a way.

“Tim stepped up big for us with Cam on the bench, and gave us leadership on the floor.”

For Cumberland, it was a good effort that ended badly.

“They knocked down some big shots that kept them in the game early on, and then allowed them to get the lead late,” said Mosby. “That's what good teams do. We played a great game, and put ourselves in a position to win, but we didn't do some of those little things Buckingham did.

“If we continue to play the way we did tonight, and can tune-up a few things here and there, we can be playing our best ball at the right time.”

Randolph led all scorers with 16 points, and was the only BCHS player in double figures. Johnson scored eight, while Harold Staton added seven and Koonce scored six – all in a four minute stretch from the end of the third into the beginning of the fourth.

Booker led the Dukes with 11 points, while Harry Bailey scored nine, despite battling foul trouble. Brooks added eight, and Jones scored six.

Buckingham was scheduled to host Goochland on Friday night in a rematch against the only team to hand them a loss this season. Cumberland was scheduled to travel to Amelia County on Friday.