Lions fall short to Hawks, 49-52, but still gain momentum

The Lockhart Lions Varsity Basketball team showed signs of improvement in their game against the Canyon Lake Hawks. The Lions jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter with balanced scoring from the starters.

The Hawks, however, battled back to take the lead at 18-16 taking advantage of excellent shooting from the foul line.

Lockhart shot poorly in t

he second quarter, tacking on only eight points and Canyon Lake”s lead doubled to four points by the end of the second quarter 28-24.

The Lions continued their cold shooting at the start of the third quarter, falling behind at one point by twelve points. Intense defensive pressure from the Lions resulted in some easy baskets later in the quarter as the Lions cut the lead to one by the end of the third 38-37.

Lockhart remained close throughout the fourth quarter trading baskets with the Hawks, but could never overtake the lead. Canyon Lake came away with the victory 52-49.

The Lions were led in scoring by Dustin Watkins, Joseph Gonzales and Sergio Juarez who scored 12, 10 and nine points respectively. Schon Colorado led the team in assists, with three, followed by Dylan Plummer and J.C. Winkler, who had two each.

“Our defensive intensity is improving; resulting in opponent turnovers and easy scoring opportunities for the team,” said Coach Rotzler.

The Lions traveled to Seguin to play in a tournament over the weekend and showed still more improvement on the floor. The Lions were outmatched in the first contest by the Seguin Matadors due to numerous turnovers and poor shooting and lost the contest 79-35.

In the second game of the tournament versus the Lehman Lobos, the Lions started to step their defensive pressure and reduce their number of turnovers. This enabled the Lions to keep the contest close during the first quarter 19-11.

Cold shooting by the Lions allowed Lehman to dominate the second quarter of the game and take a 45-23 lead into halftime. The Lions played much better in the second half outscoring the Lobos in each of the remaining two quarters.

The halftime lead was too much for the Lions to overcome, however, and the Lockhart fell 75-57.

The third game of the tournament against the San Marcos Rattlers was another hard-fought battle.

The Lions defensive pressure continued to improve, but once again cold shooting was the downfall of the Lions.

Lockhart started out cold this game, being outscored 18-0 in the first quarter. In a fast-paced second quarter the Lions started making shots, unfortunately the Rattlers found their touch and rarely missed a shot taking a 45-18 lead into the half. The Lions battled for the remaining two quarters of the game but were not able to overcome the large deficit and lost the game 74-52.

Each of the Lion players contributed in their own way.

Dylan Plummer had 10 points and 10 assists. Kendall Till added six points and two block shots. Dustin Watkins chipped in 18 points and had eight rebounds. Brandon Ramirez had six points and two steals. Sergio Juarez put in 32 points and had four assists. Jarell McBride had 17 points and four assists. Joseph Gonzales had seven points and three rebounds. Brooks Pittman added three points and 14 rebounds. Schon Colorado finished the tournament with 11 points and four assists. Samuel Sturm had 10 points and three rebounds. Lucas Westbrook had 14 points and six rebounds. “We are starting to play defense with the intensity we need,” Coach Rotzler said after the tournament. “Our offensive output will increase as a result of this defensive pressure enabling us to compete with any team we play.”

The Lions travel to New Braunfels Canyon this week; then to Tulosa Midway (Corpus Christi) for their last tournament before the start of district on Dec. 12 against Lehman.
(Courtesy of James Patton)