PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Lampasas guard Aaron Reyna glides toward the hoop during the Badgers’ road loss at Brownwood Tuesday evening. The Badgers could not afford to make a mistake, but they did.

And it cost them the game.

After falling behind by 14 points late in the third quarter at Brownwood, it appeared Lampasas would be blown out in their final non-district game of the season.

But the Badgers made a furious comeback, pulling within four points in the game’s final minute.

An untimely technical foul, however, stopped them dead in their tracks, and the Lions held on for a 55-49 victory.

The Badgers connected on just 20 of 66 shot attempts in the game and were plagued by poor shot selections, especially during the game-deciding stretch in the final minutes.

“Considering my two leading scorers [Brandon Scott and Eduardo Davila] were not scoring, I have to say I was proud of how hard the team fought back,” Lampasas head coach Scott Harrelson said. “I was pleased with how many shots we got off because that was more than any this season. Unfortunately, we didn’t make very many.”

Gabe Myles eyes the rim on one of his seven shot attempts. The junior guard finished with four points and eight rebounds. In addition to missing over twothirds of their field goals, including a three-of-16 performance behind the 3-point arc, the Badgers only connected on six of their 14 freethrow attempts.

Nevertheless, Lampasas (8-12) had an opportunity.

After starting slow, the Badgers utilized some long bombs from guards Astin Murray and Colton Perkins, as well as layups from Davila and junior Gabe Myles to knot things up at 11-11 by the end of the opening period.

The next eight minutes were not as kind to Lampasas as only three players chipped in points and Brownwood built a 10-point lead, 28-18, by halftime.

“The second quarter was a terrible offensive quarter as we missed a multitude of shots,” Harrelson said. “Brownwood took advantage of [our] missed shots.”

Then things got worse.

The Lions came out of the locker room possessed, scoring 16 points, including four consecutive 3- pointers, in two minutes to construct a 14-point lead.

It appeared as if Lampasas would be left for dead in Brownwood, but senior Ethan Byers spearheaded a comeback, scoring five of his team-high 13 points to go with three steals and a handful of rebounds as the Badgers resurrected their chance for victory.

Lampasas buried itself shortly after, however, as Carlos Cintron reacted to a call and received a technical. Brownwood (15-15) was able to capitalize and put the game out of reach.

“[Cintron] had just stolen the ball, so we were in attack mode, and he threw it away. Then he went after the guy and made a good play on the ball, but the referee called it the way he had all night [and assessed Cintron with a foul],” Harrelson said. “Carlos did [snap at the referee] after the call and deserved the technical.”

Murray was Lampasas’ lone hot hand from deep, hitting two of four 3-pointers en route to 10 points. The senior also had four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Byers finished with eight rebounds, three assists and five steals.

Davila (7 pts.) and Scott (2 pts.) both finished well below their averages as they combined to make just four of 19 shots.

Lampasas must quickly put this defeat behind them as they open district play tonight by hosting Lake Travis, the sixth-ranked Class 4A team in the state. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

“Lake Travis is a great team that makes very few mistakes,” Harrelson said. “If we can make very few mistakes, we could beat them.”

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Each of the subvarsity teams picked up victories in Brownwood.

Secody Howard and Dalton Moore scored 13 points apiece to lead Lampasas’ junior varsity team to a 51-40 win.

The freshman won by seven points, 46-39, as Bryce Perkins posted a team-high 17 points.

Both teams are in action tonight at Lake Travis with the freshmen beginning at 5:15 p.m., followed by the junior varsity at 5:30 p.m.