By Jason Gordon
The Hays boys basketball team was finally on a roll after going through a season’s worth of growing pains heading into Friday night’s home matchup against San Marcos.
Despite playing with no seniors, and mostly sophomores and freshmen, the Rebels found themselves in the thick of the playoff chase in District 17-4A after winning two of their last three games.
Even the loss during that stretch was an impressive one – a 55-53 heartbreaking defeat on the road at the hands of second-place Manor – in a game Hays held the lead with less than a minute to play and had a shot to win it at the end.
After taking a few momentous steps forward the past couple of weeks, the Rebs were shoved backward Friday night at Bales Gym in a 70-50 loss against San Marcos.
The defeat seriously damages the team’s chances to get into the playoffs as one of the district’s four postseason representatives. The Rebels (6-19, 2-6 17-4A) will likely have to win their final three games, at home against Elgin and Lockhart, and on the road against Lehman, to have any shot at the playoffs.
Del Valle, which is undefeated in 17-4A, Manor and San Marcos, which improved to 5-3 in league play after Friday night’s win, all have solid grips on postseason berths.
“It’s a step backward, but we’re still in a fight with Elgin and Lehman for that last playoff spot,” Hays head coach Kris Fuller said. “If we can win our last three games, we’ll make it interesting.”
Hays cut San Marcos’ lead, which had grown to as many as 11 points in the second quarter, to 31-30 on Caleb Kimbro’s 3-pointer from the right wing 15 seconds into the second half.
From there, however, San Marcos took advantage of numerous Hays turnovers and Rebel shooting as cold as the blustery weather outside.
The Rattlers went on a 15-3 run, including a 10-0 surge during one stretch, to take a 46-33 lead with three minutes to play in the third quarter and the Rebels never got within single digits again.
During the impressive stretch for San Marcos, Chris Threadgill stole a pass and went coast-to-coast for a layup. Hunter Burttschell stole a pass and turned it into a three-point play after being fouled on a drive to the basket, and Collin Hart nailed a 3-pointer, one of eight shots made from behind the arc by the Rattlers on the night.
“We just couldn’t find the bottom of the basket in the third quarter, and they were making everything they put up,” Fuller said. “We also had some key unforced turnovers and they made us pay for them.”
Kimbro scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in the second half, including a personal 8-0 run midway through the fourth quarter, but the game was already out of reach for the Rebels.
Hart paced the Rattlers with 17 a team-high points.
“They just outplayed us tonight,” Kimbro said. “They were getting easy layups, and we weren’t executing on offense. When you’re not making shots on offense, it throws your entire game off.”
Hays will face a tall task Tuesday night with a game at district-leading and state-ranked Del Valle, before returning home Friday night to face Elgin.
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