PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Senior forward Manny Lopez swoops to the hoop for the Badgers’ first points of the evening against Vandergrift. First a fight broke out in the stands.

Then one broke out on the court.

With a little over a minute remaining in the third quarter as the Badgers hosted Leander Vandergrift, a skirmish erupted in the stands just behind the home team’s bench.

By the time Lampasas head coach Scott Harrelson returned to the floor after breaking up the disturbance, the Badgers’ 11-point lead had begun shrinking.

Undeterred by the commotion, the Vipers’ John Hirschhorn rushed down the court and set up a threepoint play by converting a layup following a foul.

Vandergrift did not allow a point until after it tied the game at 36- 36.

Despite completely blowing a 12- point lead, the Badgers were sparked by guard Colton Perkins’ offensive rebound and putback that broke the deadlock and sent Lampasas (8-11) on its way to a 49-46 victory.

Brandon Scott guards Vandergrift’s Nick Florence. “That [distraction in the stands] really deflated us, and it is just too bad that happened because everybody lost focus,” Harrelson said. “It drained me because the emotion that was in the stands was very intense.

“I don’t know what really happened during that time period because we had the ball when I went up in the stands and when I returned, they were shooting free throws.”

The Class 3A Vipers (4-15) went on to shoot many more before the game ended. They hit eight of their 16 makes for the game in the fourth quarter to keep things close.

Lampasas, however, rediscovered its aggressiveness down the stretch and scored eight unanswered points after being knotted up at 36-36. The closest the Vipers got again came at 48-44 with a hair over 15 seconds remaining in the game.

Guard Astin Murray finished with eight points, three assists and two steals in the Badgers’ final non-district home game. Senior forward Eduardo Davila scored six of his team-high nine points in the fourth quarter, and Carlos Cintron added three of his five points in the final 2:30.

“What’s important for us is once we get that lead to make solid plays over and over again,” Harrelson said.

Guard Astin Murray followed Davila in the scoring column with eight points, while Perkins added seven points.

Although the Vipers are comprised completely of sophomores, the squad came out fearless and built a seven-point lead, 16-9, in the first quarter.

Lampasas responded by scoring seven consecutive points, as Murray sandwiched a pair of layups around a Perkins straight-on 3-pointer to tie the game by the end of the quarter.

The Badgers held Vandergrift to just one field goal, a 3-pointer, and four points overall in the second quarter but went into halftime up by just five points at 25-20.

“They just kept hanging around,” Harrelson said.

After the break, it appeared Lampasas was in total control as the team constructed its 12-point lead. Steals from Brandon Scott and Davila turned into consecutive layups for Murray, and Cintron’s field goal gave the Badgers a 36-24 advantage.

“[Vandergrift] is playing a varsity schedule with a JV basketball team, and they are very solid,” Harrelson said. “Was I licking my chops [about playing all sophomores]? Yeah, I thought we should outplay sophomores, but I had a lot of fear.”

Rightfully so.

The Vipers struck back until Perkins’ putback energized the team and broke the 36-36 tie.

“We just kept fighting and, in the end, we decided to pull it out,” Perkins said.

Both Perkins and Ethan Byers were on the court when the altercation erupted in the stands, but only one was distracted.

“I thought somebody was choking and needed CPR,” Perkins said.

Byers, on the other hand, was involved in the play the entire time. Unfortunately, he was too involved as he tallied a personal foul that started the Vipers’ comeback.

“I picked up my fourth foul, and coach didn’t even know,” the guard said with a smile.

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The Badgers’ freshman team also defeated Vandergrift, winning 42- 35 behind 14 points from Cullen Singleton and eight points from Bryce Perkins.

The win improves the team’s record to 9-6 on the year.

Lampasas’ junior varsity team was not as fortunate. It fell by one point, 39-38.

The Badgers were leading 30-23 going into the fourth quarter but watched the lead slip away as the Vipers posted 16 points in the period.