Lampasas senior Brandon Scott drives toward the basket during Tuesday’s game against Salado. PHOTOS BY NICK FORRESTER Lampasas coach Rob Shivers’ wish finally came true.

The Badger coach said he has been “begging” forward Brandon Scott, who returned from an ankle injury to play in Tuesday’s game, to be more aggressive offensively.

Scott granted his coach’s request Tuesday night, as he led the Badgers with 12 points in a 45-36 win over visiting Salado.

“When we talk about scorers, we usually talk about Mason [Murray], Shonderius [Howard] and Secody [Howard], but Brandon has that ability too,” Shivers said. “He’s just got to do it.”

It took Scott and the rest of the Badgers (15-9, 3-1) a little while to get going offensively against Salado, as the team committed several mental mistakes in the first quarter to fall behind 14-5 early, and Scott didn’t score until the second half. But the Badgers eventually bounced back.

Lampasas cheerleaders Courtney Hess (left) and Ashlyn Henry backflip down the court during a timeout in Tuesday’s game. “Our offensive cohesion wasn’t there [at the beginning of the game],” Shivers said. “It was just a lot of mental errors, like guys taking shots they’ve never taken before and things like that.

“But we did a good job of locking in and focusing after that. It’s not like we did anything strategically different, we just cut down the mental errors.”

When Scott, who is the reigning District 25-3A Defensive MVP, stole a Salado pass attempt in the third quarter, he had a wide open lane to the basket for a fast-break layup. When he made the shot, the Badgers took their first lead of the game at 22-21 with just over five minutes remaining in the period.

“It felt really good [to get back on the court from my ankle injury],” Scott said. “I heard how the crowd was amazing last week, and seeing it for myself, seeing how much support we have, it’s just an amazing feeling.”

Once the Badgers did take the lead in the third quarter, the teams went back and forth for the rest of the quarter, and Lampasas trailed 28-27 going into the final period of play.

But, just a minute into the fourth quarter, Shonderius Howard hit a three-pointer to give the Badgers a 30-28 lead – a lead Lampasas did not relinquish for the remainder of the game.

The Eagles pulled as close as 37-33 with just over 3 minutes remaining, but Scott scored five more points - all from the freethrow line - to secure the ninepoint victory.

Junior Mason Murray scored nine points, while Shonderius Howard scored eight points for the Badgers.

Lampasas, which is tied with Burnet for second place in District 25-3A, will conclude the first round of district round-robin play when it travels to Liberty Hill tonight.