Lions surge past Crockett in key District battle

Something wasn’t working, so Javier Torres decided to do something that would.

Visiting Austin Crockett had scored five points a flurry to end the first half, taking a lead at the Lions’ Den, but Lockhart controlled the second half, led by an offensive explosion from Jah Gulley and an all-round defensive effort that limited the Cougars to no points in the first 5:55 of the fourth quarter en route to a 53-47 District 17 victory Friday night.

Gulley paced the Lions with 32 points, 22 coming in the second half. Major New finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Lions, while Tay Andrews added 8 and Ashton Dickens 3.

Crockett got a game-high 33 points from Jayden Caballero, but no one else on the Cougars’ roster scored more than 3.

On Jan. 4, Crockett had edged Lockhart 61-55 in overtime.

Lockhart jumped out to a 19-13 lead in the second quarter, but after a Crockett timeout, the Cougars raced to a 26-22 lead at the break.

Gulley opened the third quarter for Lockhart with a 3-ponter, followed that with a fall-away 10-footer. New’s bucket inside gave the Lions a lead at 28-26. Crockett tied the game once more at 35-35, but Gulley’s layup at the buzzer to end the third period started Lockhart on a 15-0 run that concluded with a Gulley trey that gave the Lions and the home crowd a 50-35 advantage.

Lockhart improved to 13-14 overall and 6-3 in district play. Crockett dropped to 12-18, 6-3 and tied for third in District 17 with Lockhart.

“We had to do something different,” Torres said. What we were doing wasn’t working, so we went into that 1-3-1 (defense) and with the athletes we’ve got, length with athleticism is hard to beat.”

Torres credited sophomore Ashton Dickens and senior Tay Andrews with strong defensive play.

“Dickens is a special kid,” Torres said. “He has a knack for the ball. And Tay played great. He’s a defensive stopper. He doesn’t care if he scores or not. He just wants to stop his guy.

“And what a great atmosphere it was tonight.”

The Lions are currently riding a three-game win streak into their game Tuesday at McCallum. They will return to the Lions’ Den Friday for a 7:30 p.m. tip-ff against Anderson.

BOX SCORE

Lockhart 53, Crockett 47

CROCKETT: Mendez 1 0-0 2, Caballero 11 7-7 33, Reese 0 3-5 3, Chapa 1 0-0 2, Newton 1 0-1 2, Harper 1 0-0 2, Batts 0 3-4 3. TOTALS 15 13-17 47.

LOCKHART: Andrews 2 4-6 8, Gulley 13 1-4 32, New 3 4-5 10, Dickens 1 1-3 3, Hopkins 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0-0 0, Schexnyader 0 0-0 0, Morales 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 19 10-18 53.

3-pointers — Crockett: Caballero 4. Lockhart: Gulley 5.

Score by Quarters

Crockett 10-16-9-12 – 47

Lockhart 11-11-15-16 – 53

STANDINGS

5A III District 17

All        District

Anderson          22-8     9-0

NE Early College            21-10   7-2

Lockhart           13-14   6-3

Crockett           12-18   6-3

McCallum         9-16     4-5

L.A. & Science Aca.        4-16     3-6

Navarro            5-20     1-8

Travis   4-20     0-9

Lockhart’s JV boys dropped a 40-28 decision to Crockett.

The Lockhart freshmen boys defeated Crockett, 39-35.