Central Cali's Standout Players: Buchanan v. Clovis North Rematch

Fresno, CA - This past Friday night, February 6th, I traveled up to Fresno to catch the Clovis North and Buchanan game, which had 1st place implications for the TRAC league. The Bears won the first meeting between these squads, but the Bears dropped a TRAC game to Clovis High, so both teams entered the game with one loss. The winner would have a clear path to the outright TRAC title and likely the #2 seed in the D1 Section playoffs. Buchanan has won the last four meetings against Clovis North dating back to last season, and it was clear from the tip-off that it was determined to make it a 5th straight win, as senior Des Patton was on go mode from the first play. Buchanan took a 17 point lead into the break, 35 to 18, and held the Broncos to four points in the second quarter. Buchanan continued to pour it on in the 3rd quarter, as it would be up as much as 41 to 18 and prevented the Broncos from scoring in that period until close to the 2 minute mark. Clovis North would make a push in the fourth quarter, but the play of senior Brayden Harris helped keep the lead in double-figures, and the Bears would finish with a 54 to 39 win. Buchanan will win the TRAC outright with a win over Clovis East in its final game of the regular season, which will not be easy as the Timberwolves had the Bears down 13 points in its first meeting before a big second half scoring push to get the win. In this article I look at 6 players that had standout showings by positions: guards, wings, and forwards. I discuss how they played in the game and their relevant statistics, which are my own personal statistics. I will follow this with standout players from two more games I watched on Saturday at Centennial of Bakersfield.   Buchanan Bears (Clovis) 54 Clovis North Broncos (Fresno) 39   Guards:   Des Patton (5'9 | 2026) - Buchanan    Patton has been sensational at the point guard position for the Bears this season, as was evident in his monster double-double. which I was able to witness in Buchanan's win over Clovis West back on February 16th, going for 12 points, 12 assist, and 5 rebounds. Patton was on go from the jump, looking to attack the paint and get to the basket, and he was able to get to the basket attacking from the perimeter routinely, scoring 11 of his game-high 19 points in the first quarter to give his team the 22-14 lead going into the second period. Patton connected on a 3-ball at the buzzer to give the Bears the 35 to 18 lead at intermission, which would be a lead that the Broncos would not be able to recover from. Patton finished the game with 19 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and a block to give his team the league sweep over Clovis North for the second year in a row and a pathway to be the outright TRAC champs. Patton has dynamic handles, keeps the dribble alive to probe the defense, has a quick burst of speed off the bounce to get paint touches, and is a crafty scorer around the basket, with the reverse, Euro-step, and the off-hand finish on the strong side to evade shot-blockers Patton moves well off the ball to get open looks, is effective with the 3-ball off the catch, and has touch on the floater down the lane, with the court vision to make reads off the drive and kick pass, as well as timely dimes to players diving out of the pick and roll action. Solid on-ball defender that turns defender to offense. Relentless motor that keeps constant pressure on the defense and makes winning basketball plays.   McKae Amundsen (5'10 | 2026) Clovis North    Amundsen has become the program's leader in several statistical categories this season, with the all-time leading scorer for Clovis North being the most prominent given the talent that has gone through the Bronco program over the years. Despite the impressive accomplishments, as well as some huge scoring outbursts this season from the Idaho State commit, Amundsen has not been as prolific scoring the ball against Buchanan the last two seasons. But, as all good players do, Amundsen found other ways to impact the game this past Friday, making plays to find open teammates, or tough perimeter defense that generated turnovers and chances to score in transition. Amundsen finished with a solid stat-line of 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, but his team needed more points from the program's leading scorer to keep pace with the Bears. Amundsen has shifty moves and handles to get his defender off balance, makes great use of the change of speed and direction with the ball in his hands to attack holes in the defense, is accurate with the jumper off the dribble or the catch from the mid-range to the 3-point line, and the court vision to make quality reads off the drive and kick pass, cross-court to open teammates spotting up, and to players cutting off the ball to get open around the basket. I would expect Amundsen to put up big numbers in the Broncos last regular season game against Clovis North, and with a win and a Buchanan loss to Clovis East, that would give Clovis North a share of the TRAC title, which is how it played out last season.     Wings:   [player_tooltip player_id='2915953' first='Rhead' last='Sweeney'] (6'5 | 2028) - Buchanan   Sweeney has been one of the top scorers for the Bears this season, but he would take on more of the facilitating role in this one, as teammate Des Patton had the hot hand in the first half. Sweeney only scored 6 points for the game, with four of those coming in the opening quarter, but it was his impact on the glass, as well as making plays and instinctual plays on defense to create turnovers that were on display against Clovis North.. Sweeney added 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and a block to leave his imprint on various aspects of the game. Sweeney has solid handles, the moves to create space from his defender, using the crossover, spin-move, Euro-step, and reverse moves to be a scoring threat from 3-levels. Sweeney crashes the boards, gets put-back opportunities off the offensive glass, pushes the ball off the defensive boards, and has the court vision to find players up the court for transition buckets, as well as timely finds to senior Brayden Harris out of the pick and roll action. Sweeney is a versatile defender that has the lateral quickness to stay in front of perimeter players, the length and strength to hold up against bigger players, and the active hands and IQ to deflect entry passes, jump passing lanes, or poke the ball out to get out in the open court for easy points.   [player_tooltip player_id='2977779' first='Elias' last='Gish'] (6'6 | 2026) - Clovis North    Gish has been part of the high-scoring duo for Clovis North this season, along with fellow senior McKae Amundsen, and has had some explosive scoring games this season to showcase his 3-level scoring ability. Gish had a solid start to the game and led the Broncos with 7 points in the first half. Despite the solid start, Gish, along with the entire Broncos roster, struggled to find the bottom of the net in the second half, with only one basket after the break for a total of 9 points for the game. In a low-scoring affair for both teams, Gish needed to be a bit more aggressive looking to score, even with the tough defense the Bears were throwing at the Broncos, and that has to be the case for Clovis North to be able to make a run in the postseason. Gish has solid handles, uses the crossover, between cross, hesitation, and spin-move to create space from his defender, has the length and height to shoot over most perimeter defenders, with accuracy from the mid-range to the 3-point line off the bounce or the catch, and the moves to score in the post with touch on shots around the basket. Gish did not have his best rebounding game, but has been very effective on the glass this season for the Broncos, which will be needed for the postseason, as he is the only real size the Broncos have in the post.   Forwards:   Brayden Harris (6'9 | 2026) - Buchanan    Harris had a relatively quiet game for the first 3 quarters of the game, but with the Broncos making a push in the fourth quarter, it was the play of Harris that kept Clovis North at bay and the Bears with a double-digit lead. Harris scored all 9 of his points in the final frame, which accounted for all but one of Buchanan's points in that period. Harris controls the paint on both ends, keeps the ball high so smaller players can't poke the ball out, and has great touch on shots around the basket. Harris does a great job of setting a hard screen, and sealing off his defender on the dive to the basket with great hands to catch the ball on the roll for the easy finish that often draws fouls. Harris will be relied upon against the bigger teams in the D1 Section playoffs, as he has great interior footwork and back-to-the-basket moves.    Devin Gaines (6'6 | 2026) - Buchanan    Gaines was a pivotal piece last year for the D4 Section champs, Fresno Christian, and has been a great addition for the Bears this season. Gaines scored all 7 of his points in the first half, but it was his 5 first quarter points, with a 3-ball as part of that opening quarter scoring, that had the biggest impact on the game. Gaines entered the game playing the 5-spot to give the Bears a bit more on-court speed and open the court up, as well as defensive versatility with all players able to switch on screens and rotations. All the attention was shifting towards Patton, who was scoring at will, and Gaines connected on two shots that were the by-product of Patton making quality reads once the defense collapsed on him. Gaines has been a great fit for the Bears, as he can play at the center position and give Buchanan the ability to play faster, or he can play alongside Harris to give the Bears a tall and lengthy front-line that only a couple of teams can hold up against in the paint. Impact two-way player that crashes the glass, can guard the 1 through 5 positions, and can space the floor from beyond the arc.

Fresno, CA - This past Friday night, February 6th, I traveled up to Fresno to catch the Clovis North and Buchanan game, which had 1st place implications for the TRAC league. The Bears won the first meeting between these squads, but the Bears dropped a TRAC game to Clovis High, so both teams entered the game with one loss. The winner would have a clear path to the outright TRAC title and likely the #2 seed in the D1 Section playoffs. Buchanan has won the last four meetings against Clovis North dating back to last season, and it was clear from the tip-off that it was determined to make it a 5th straight win, as senior Des Patton was on go mode from the first play. Buchanan took a 17 point lead into the break, 35 to 18, and held the Broncos to four points in the second quarter. Buchanan continued to pour it on in the 3rd quarter, as it would be up as much as 41 to 18 and prevented the Broncos from scoring in that period until close to the 2 minute mark. Clovis North would make a push in the fourth quarter, but the play of senior Brayden Harris helped keep the lead in double-figures, and the Bears would finish with a 54 to 39 win. Buchanan will win the TRAC outright with a win over Clovis East in its final game of the regular season, which will not be easy as the Timberwolves had the Bears down 13 points in its first meeting before a big second half scoring push to get the win. In this article I look at 6 players that had standout showings by positions: guards, wings, and forwards. I discuss how they played in the game and their relevant statistics, which are my own personal statistics. I will follow this with standout players from two more games I watched on Saturday at Centennial of Bakersfield.