Lometa's Eric Nichols (10) fights for a loose ball in the Hornets' recent contest against Lohn. PHOTOS BY CHERI JAY-WIENECKE The Lometa boys’ basketball team had an opportunity to put the district race out of reach for any of its opponents.

But in the Hornets’ game against Eden last week, when they had an opportunity to do that, Lometa was unsuccessful, as the team fell 63-44 after holding a seven-point lead in the second quarter.

“It [not being in a position to run away with the district title] definitely puts a mental strain on you because you’re always thinking about it,” Lometa coach Aaron Nuckles said. “I hate to predict, but if Eden takes care of business, we take care of business and Menard takes care of business, we three should be in the playoffs.

“But you never know when an upset in this district is going to occur, so it keeps things interesting going down the stretch.”

Against Eden, Nuckles said the Hornets struggled with shot selection. They shot 21 3-pointers, when the coach doesn’t want Lometa shooting more than 10 per game.

“We took some very poor shot selections throughout that game,” he said. “They kind of dictated to us what we were going to do. We panicked a little bit and had some kids taking some shots they shouldn’t have taken.”

The Hornets also missed 17 shots that were taken within a couple feet of the basket.

Hector Rivera finished the night with 15 points, while Dylan Straley contributed 10 points.

After that game, Nuckles said he challenged some of his players and told them if they continue to play like they did against Eden, they wouldn’t see as much playing time.

In Tuesday’s game, the Hornets responded to their coach’s challenge, as they defeated Richland Springs 64-58 in triple overtime.

Lometa had an opportunity to win the game both at the end of regulation and at the end of the first overtime. But the Hornets missed two shots, which kept Richland Springs alive.

“They came over after the first [missed attempt] and were kind of down,” Nuckles said. “I told them, “You’ve just got to keep fighting.’

“We had that, and in the second overtime, nobody scored. It was just a defensive slugfest, and everyone was exhausted.”

In the third overtime, with the game tied, Straley was fouled. He made the first of two shots but missed the second. Rivera got the rebound, however, and made a layup to give the Hornets a three-point lead.

After Richland Springs cut the Hornets’ margin down to one, the same situation happened again when Lometa’s Kolby Hesbrook missed the second free throw, and Jose Acevedo was able to get the rebound and layup.

“The night was won on two missed free throws, and we got the offensive rebound and putback,” Nuckles said. “We focus on rebounding, and that won it for us.

“I told the kids afterward that I’d rather they play a game like that than us win by 30 because we got a lot more out of it. We’re a better team now because we went through that the other night.”

Lometa, which is tied with Eden for first place in the district, hosts Rochelle tonight before traveling to Menard on Tuesday.