The gym was split in two colors: blue and yellow. Buena was getting ready to play against Ventura in their second rivalry game of the season. The game had an exciting start for the Bulldogs who won the jump ball allowing senior Darin Cole scored a three pointer followed by a foul, then made his free throw.

Ventura got the ball and dribbled it down the court which gave them two points on the board. Senior Blue Sierra shot and drained a three pointer for Buena. The Buena crowd got loud, and both teams went back and forth on the court until Ventura scored a two pointer shortly after, and gained two more points. 

Junior Zane Carter scored twice, followed by Sierra who kept the lead, 12-6. Ventura played aggressively, yet Buena was not letting them pass. Cole shot a two pointer for the Buena Bulldogs. With a foul ball on Ventura, Buena got the ball and soon after lost it. Ventura scored and Buena was still leading. Senior Moses Garman scored a three pointer and a two pointer making the score 19 – 10. Senior Jadon Bubransky number 12 scored the last two points of the first quarter. Buena led 21 – 10,  with 11 points in front of Ventura. 

At the start of the second quarter, Buena led 21-12. Buena’s offense came off hot in the first quarter, but Ventura was not giving up. Ventura started to heat up on offense and started to make some mid-range jumpers come back. Buena’s defense could not keep up. Ventura cut Buena’s nine point lead to a three point deficit. Cole hit two back to back three pointers to end the half with a lead of 31-26. 

The third quarter started with Buena struggling to score. Ventura took advantage of this by tying the game, 33-33.  Ventura then scored to lead by two points, Buena followed with a timeout. The dogs came out of the timeout prepared, allowing Carter to score, tying the game once more. Following that, they got a stop and number 28 on Ventura hit a three to take the lead back. Then, Ventura scored twice to take the lead back. Buena attempted to score in the last few seconds of the quarter but was unsuccessful. The score going into the final quarter was 

41-40. 

The fourth quarter commenced, Buena rushing to the ball first and scored the first point of the quarter. Both teams did not back down and fought hard until the buzzer. Buena would take the lead, then Ventura would go up, back and forth for most of the fourth quarter. Cole hit a free throw to tie the game up and send it to overtime! 

The score tied 59-59, and the two put on a show with five minutes left in the game. Ventura ended up pulling away with the victory over Buena with a score of 70-66. 

“It was a tough loss, we competed hard and I am proud of that,” said JV coach Jordan Star.