MAJOR BLOW
Cougars severely hurt LHS' playoff bid
By JEREMY HEATH Staff Writer

PHOTO BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Lampasas High School senior Marvin Mouroum (00) is whistled for charge during the Badgers' 64-56 home loss to Pflugerville Connally on Friday.

The Lampasas High School boys' basketball team received a vicious blow to its playoff hopes with a 64- 56 home loss to Pflugerville Connally on Friday.

With almost all the weight of their playoff hopes hanging on Friday's game, the Badgers (15-11 overall, 3-6 in District 25-4A) played even with Connally in every aspect of the game except one: offensive rebounding. The Cougars (16-12, 7-2) snared 34 offensive rebounds, taking advantage of the extra scoring opportunities with successful putbacks and foul shots.

"I told them at the half, we committed too many turnovers (15) and gave up too many offensive rebounds (18) and that we needed to cut those numbers in half," LHS head coach Scott Harrelson said. "We cut the turnovers down (eight in the second half), but we couldn't stop them on the offensive glass. There was just nothing we could do. We had bodies on them, but they pushed us out of the way."

The loss gave Connally the tiebreaker (the Cougars won the first meeting 47-45), meaning the Badgers must win their last five games and Connally must lose its last five for the Badgers to make the playoffs. The Badgers are scheduled to play at second-place Hendrickson tonight.

The biggest difference on the boards was the play of Connally seniors Justin Guerrero and Chase Harper. Guerrero, a 6'3" senior, scored 11 of his 14 in the fourth quarter and dominated on the glass. Harper, a 6'6" senior who has verbally committed to play football at Iowa State, was rock-solid in the paint and finished with 14.

The Cougars led 13-12 after one period, 23-21 at the half and 35-33 heading into the final frame. They scored 16 of their 29 fourth-quarter points on free throws.

"I thought Connally played like a playoff team, and that we played just below the level of a playoff team," Harrelson said. "I'm not disappointed with anyone's play. The kids played hard and played with confidence. I'm really proud of them."

Senior guard Clay Tyner, junior post Heath Hopson and senior post Heath Cofield have been the Badgers' top offensive threats all season, and all three turned in stellar performances on Friday. Tyner scored with 16 points, Hopson tallied 15, and Cofield added 12. Behind those efforts, the Badgers were within 57-51 with 47 seconds left and 61-56 with 13 seconds left, but Connally connected on 10 of its final 12 free throw attempts.

"We definitely kept a positive attitude the whole game," Tyner said. "We believed we could finish and kept a strong mindset. All preseason, coach Harrelson did things to make us mentally tough. We'd be out on the track, it would be 100 degrees and we'd be on our last lap, and coach is yelling, 'You're playing Connally right now, and it's the fourth quarter.'"

After struggling from beyond the arc most of the season, the Badgers found success with its outside shooting on Friday. Hopson and Warren Scott each canned 3-pointers, and Tyner and Marvin Mouroum hit a trey apiece.

When the Badgers start their final stretch tonight, there will be more on the line than the slim possibility of a playoff berth.

"We're not out of it, but we'd need a lot of help," Tyner said. "Right now, it's about the program. Usually when a team gets to this point, practices can start getting less intense, and players can get senioritis. We don't want that to happen. We want to raise the bar as high as we can for future players in the program."