The varsity boys’ basketball team squared off in a fierce rivalry game with the Round Rock Dragons on Tuesday, Dec. 11. On a night where the fans were loud and both teams played with a lot of heart, the Warriors came out of the game with an unfortunate loss, as the home team fell by a score of 55-46. Brandon Parks ‘20 led the Warriors with 17 points while Heston Williams ‘19 contributed 13 points.

“It was hard to guard [their] big men and shooters, and we told ourselves that we couldn’t allow them to shoot, but they did anyways because we couldn’t close out,” Parks said.

The Warriors began the game on a bit of a cold stretch, as the first made shot – a Luke Durham ‘19 three-pointer – got the home team on the board about halfway into the first quarter. Thankfully for the Warriors, their stingy defense kept them in the game, as they prevented the Dragons from making too many shots to increase their lead. When the first quarter of action wrapped up, it was Round Rock that held the advantage, by a score of 16-13.

“We had a low shooting percentage, and it was [a big factor throughout] the game. We had a couple of open shots that we could’ve hit but didn’t, so that’s something we need to work on,” Demetrius Jones ‘19 said.

The second quarter proved to be more of the same from the first quarter – a hard-fought, tightly contested, and a mainly defensive eight minutes of action. When the halftime buzzer sounded, Round Rock still held the lead by a score of 26-21. Williams had seven points at the half, while Parks had six points to lead the Warriors as both sides headed into their respective locker rooms to make adjustments for the upcoming half.

“I think foul trouble played a big role because personally for me, I had four fouls for almost the entire game, so I was a little scared to play defense, and I think that because of foul trouble we all were a little scared to play defense and stay aggressive,” Parks said.

The Warriors found their groove on offense in the third quarter, with Parks and Patrick Sladek ‘19 hitting back-to-back three-pointers to take the lead, but only for a brief moment in the game. The Dragons would then go on a 10-0 run to increase their lead to nine points. The score would be 36-27 in favor of the visitors before a Corey Levinson ‘19 three-pointer stopped the Round Rock run, making the scoreline 36-30, still in favor of the Dragons. Williams then converted an and-one opportunity to cut the Warriors’ deficit to three points, as the score was 36-33. Round Rock hit a three-pointer to end the quarter, pushing their lead to six points as well as changing the score to 39-33, with the Dragons having the upper hand once again.

“[The lack of rebounding] was very important tonight because rebounding usually leads to extra possessions, and we got fewer possessions, so we came up short tonight,” Sladek said.

The fourth quarter proved to be much different from the other three frames; however, the visitors began to pull away, extending their lead to as large as 14 points, the largest lead that any team would have over the course of the game. The Warriors attempted to mount a furious comeback as time expired, cutting the lead to single digits before the buzzer sounded. At the final whistle, the Warriors’ late comeback fell short, as they fell 55-46.

“Honestly, we just didn’t play well together at the end of the game,” Jones said. “We had a couple of crucial defensive stops we couldn’t make and just shot a bunch of bad shots.”

The Warriors look to bounce back from the disappointing loss as they head on the road to play the McNeil Mavericks on Friday, Dec. 14.