Lions declaw Cougars in final seconds

By Alonzo Garza
POST-REGISTER

What an amazing way to start the year out on just the right note. The Lockhart Lion Varsity Boys Basketball team surprised everyone, even themselves, on Tuesday Jan. 2 when they upset the 12th-ranked New Braunfels Canyon Cougars. The scoring in the game was evenly matched quarter after quarter giving the Lions a sense of empowerment

and drive to ultimately send the Cougars home with a loss. The Lions defeated the Cougars 54-53 in an exciting display of skill and calculating discipline under pressure. They improved their record to a 2-0 in district play.
How did they do it? Well, from where I was sitting (and I did move a lot) it looked like their game was as good as it was, simply because of excellent cooperative team effort. No one seemed to hog the ball and everyone was willing to pass to whomever was best capable of making a basket. It was a beautiful sight to see. I look forward to seeing more of that type of team effort in future games.
Scoring in the first quarter came from four capable Lions. Kerry Lampkin, Jonathan Gonzales and Alex Joseph all shot for two points each. The fourth Lion to score in the first quarter was Michael Schulle, who chalked up a couple of two-pointers and a free throw for a total of five point. Schulle’s scoring, in addition to six points from the other three Lions brough the total scoring for the quarter to 11. The Cougars, still unaware of the Lion”s impending drive as formidable competitors, put 15 points on the scoreboard for a final score of 11-15 in their favor at the end of the first quarter.
The Lions pressed the Cougars a bit more in the second quarter. They turned the game”s action up enough to keep the quarter”s scoring to just 10-9 points. The Cougar”s fought for their nine points and reluctantly allowed the Lions to score the other ten. Scoring for the Lions in the second quarter were Terence Waldon, Gonzales and Joseph who each shot for two points. Schulle shot another couple of two-pointers. The scoring ended at 21-24 closing the half in Canyon”s favor.
The third quarter was the highest scoring quarter for both teams. Lockhart scored 18 points while Canyon scored 17 points. The scoring for Lockhart came from Waldon who made a two point shot and Lampkin, who contributed the most points in the quarter, with four free throws and a couple of two pointers for a total of eight points. The rest of the points came from Gonzales who made a three point shot and a two point shot for a total of five points and finally, Joseph”s three pointer rounded out the 18 points in the quarter ending the scoring at 39-41 still in favor of Canyon.
The Lions, recognizing they were two points away from taking the win from the Cougars in the last quarter, ramped up their game. The Lions put 15 more points on the scoreboard and let the Cougars add 12 final points to the game. Scoring in the last quarter for the Lions came from Gonzales who made a three point shot and a two point shot for a total of 5 points in the quarter. Dustin Garza made his contribution with a two point shot and Schulle added 8 points with four two pointers in the final quarter.
Schulle was the highest scorer with 17 points for the game. Right behind him were Gonzales with 14 points, Lampkin with 10 points, Joseph with seven points, Waldon with four points and Garza with two points.
The Lions kept a level head during the last couple of minutes of the game when it seemed that the coaches were trying to wear each other out with all the time outs. Two minutes became what seemed to be a lifetime. Fortunately for the Lions, all the stalling did not help Canyon in the end. The Cougars failed in their last second attempts to score and simply ran out of time leaving the final score at 54-53 in favor of the Lockhart Lions. You really had to be there to appreciate the excitement that carried the Lions to their win.
The Lockhart Lions play against Lehman at the LHS gym on Friday, Jan. 12. Come out and support your team by witnessing another exciting game of hoops. See you at the game.
agarza@post-register.com