Varsity Lions struggle with tournament games

By Alonzo Garza
POST-REGISTER

The Varsity Lions traveled to Corpus Christi for the annual Pride of Texas Basketball Tournament held at Tuloso-Midway High School from Thursday, Dec 11 to Saturday, Dec 13.

The Lions fell to three formidable opponents. The fell 81-21 to Friendswood, 65-41 to Corpus Christi Moody and 82-49 to Sugarland’s B.F. Terry High Sc

hool.

“We like to use this tournament as a ‘team building experience’ as well as to gain playing experience before going into district play,” Head Coach Glenn Rotzler said. “We lost all three games at the tournament, but showed improvement in certain areas in each game.”

The Lions fell first to a solid Friendswood team.

“We lost in the first round to a very talented and much taller Friendswood team,” Rotzler said. “We couldn’t seem to get anything going right in that first game. The kids were not running the press break correctly and when we beat the press, we couldn’t get any shots to fall.”

The Lions’ second loss was to a well-prepared team from Corpus Christi.

“In the second round, we faced Corpus Christi Moody,” Rotzler said. “We ran the press break very well against Moody, but we were missing lay-ups.”

The Lions missed 12 lay-ups in the contest.

“We ran our free throw fast break well and got some easy points out of it.” Rotzler said. “We found ourselves down by 20 at the half, but played much better the second.”

Xavier Moore had seven assists and Jason Sanders made 14 points to lead the Lions in scoring. The Lions fell 65-41 in their second game.

“The difference in the score was the exact number of points we lost out on by missing the 12 lay-ups,” Rotzler said.

The Lions faced B.F. Terry in the third game of the tournament and fell 82-49.

“They were a very athletic team. They pressed well,” Rotzler said. “After breaking Moody’s press in the second game, the Lions went back to having trouble against the Terry press. We simply didn’t do things the way we did the day before against Moody. We show signs of greatness, but we have to learn to do things and play consistently.”

Hector Rangel led the Lions in scoring against Terry with 15 points and Moore chipped in 10 points. Even though 11 out of 12 Lions scored in the contest, it was Terry’s team who prevailed.

“If we can cut down on the turnovers, shoot the ball better, and play more consistently, we will be okay,” Rotzler said. “The road for the Lions doesn’t get any easier.”

The Lions traveled to Liberty Hill on Tuesday, Dec 16 and will play Lake Travis in the Lion’s Den on Friday, Dec. 19 at 8 p.m. Check next week’s Post-Register for scores and highlights.

See you at the game.
agarza@post-registrer.com