PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Badger guard Aaron Reyna’s shot is blocked by Killeen junior Ta’shawn Thomas (50). The forward finished the game with five blocks, seven rebounds and 10 points as the Kangaroos dominated the home team. Badger forward Brandon Scott drained the game-opening, 3-point field goal against Killeen.

If Scott Harrelson had his way, it would have been the contest’s final field goal as well.

Sadly, the Lampasas head coach’s wish was not granted, and the fuelinjected Killeen Kangaroos responded by scoring 17 unanswered points to take command before running away with a 39-point victory, 81-42.

“I just wanted them to take care of the ball,” Harrelson said. “They just kept wanting to shoot it, and when you do that you give up 50 points in a half.

“To start the game, we had a three-point lead. Hey, end the quarter 3-0. We have to take responsibility for not staying with the gameplan to start off. After that, their athleticism took over and they basically did whatever they wanted to do to us.”

Ethan Byers prepares to release his only field goal of the game before leaving with an ankle injury. The senior guard is expected to play in tonight’s home game against Hutto. After having its 17-point run halted by Ethan Byers’ jumper with two minutes left in the opening period, No. 8 Killeen got right back to work, scoring five unanswered points to take a 22-7 lead.

They did not slow down after the break.

The Kangaroos (20-7, 3-0 District 25-4A) drained 11 of their 20 second-quarter attempts and went into the locker room leading 50-20.

Lampasas’ lone field goals of the second quarter came from senior guard Carlos Cintron, who was three of six from the floor in the period for eight points.

“I told Carlos and I told Colton [Perkins] to shoot the ball,” Harrelson said. “I thought that if we spread them out a little bit, get some penetration, and kick [the ball] out to the corner then that is where we are going to score our points.”

For the most part, the strategy worked. Perkins scored a teamhigh 12 points on three of six shooting and hit two of four from behind the 3-point arc.

Unfortunately, the Badgers (8- 15, 0-3) often shot the ball too quickly for Harrelson’s taste. Especially after Scott scored the first three of his 11 points to start the game.

“Just hold the ball,” the coach said. “You don’t have to score, you’re winning.”

Harrelson did see some improvement from his team in the second half, but admits that the performance came after Killeen eased up and put in its reserves.

“[Killeen head coach Jason Fossett] called off the dogs, so I appreciate what he did,” Harrelson said. “My kids got a little tougher as the game went on, but they started off being scared of them.”

Lampasas hosts the Hutto Hippos tonight at 7 p.m.

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The subvarsity teams also fell to Killeen at home.

The freshmen (11-8, 1-2) lost by 10 points, 42-32, while the junior varsity team (7-13, 0-3) was upset at home 64-27.