WHAT A WAY TO END IT
Badgers capture fourth-place finish with fourth straight win
By JEREMY HEATH Staff Writer

Left: Junior Heath Hopson scored 22 points in LHS' win.

When the screeching feedback started bouncing off the Bozarth- Fowler Gymnasium walls, Clay Tyner calmly pulled the microphone away from his mouth, composed himself, re-focused and finished his rendition of our national anthem.

Then the senior point guard, who is in a Christian Rock band called P.S. (for Plaid Shorts, he said), went out and calmly guided the Lampasas High School boys' basketball team to a 53-40 come-frombehind win over Burnet.

The win was the Badgers' fourth straight to close the season. LHS (19-12 overall, 7-7 in District 25- 4A) finished fourth behind Pflugerville Hendrickson, Lake Travis and Pflugerville Connally.

"I usually have a couple of guys (bandmates) up there with me, so it was a little nerve-racking to do it all by myself," Tyner said of standing alone in front of the Badger faithful and sharing his vocal gift.

Tyner's version of the anthem was in a way a microcosm of his team's season. It started strong (a tournament title at Lorena and 12 wins before district play started). It hit a rough patch (an 0-4 district start and a playoff disqualification after 10 district games). It saw the Badgers, like Tyner, re-focus their goals and finish strong (four straight wins and a fourth-place finish).

PHOTOS BY GABE WOLF Right: Head coach Scott Harrelson welcomes senior Clay Tyner off the court for the last time.

"Winning four straight and finishing fourth is definitely satisfying," Tyner said. "The standards we set will take next year's team into a new district (because of UIL realignment). We really needed to learn how to win. We did that this season."

The Badgers trailed Burnet 10-7 after one quarter and 27-22 with five minutes remaining in the third period. Luckily for Tyner, who finished with eight points and four assists, he had plenty of back-up singers in the form of his teammates.

Junior Heath Hopson scored a team-high 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Senior Heath Cofield finished with 11 points and six rebounds, and junior Warren Scott canned two 3-pointers and snared a team-high nine rebounds. Junior Jordy Carnes drained a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left in the third quarter that gave the Badgers a 31-30 lead they would not relinquish.

LHS head coach Scott Harrelson said his team took its motto from a San Antonio Spurs poster, and his players' adherence to that motto helped them win more games than any Badgers team since the 1999- 2000 team went 22-14.

"It (the poster) says, 'Say it loud: team is everything.'" Harrelson said. "They all bought into that. It would have been easy for them not to. Everybody, no matter if they were playing a lot of minutes or not, was always up cheering on their teammates and doing the things it takes to help a team win. It's not human nature to do that, but they did it."