Last-minute steals and putback give LHS edge over Vikings

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  • Jacob Hogeda makes a save at the baseline in the second half against Lago Vista. JEFF LOWE | DISPATCH RECORD
    Jacob Hogeda makes a save at the baseline in the second half against Lago Vista. JEFF LOWE | DISPATCH RECORD
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Landon Mulcahy scored on a putback for the winning points and had a doubledouble in the Badgers’ 58-57 varsity basketball victory over Lago Vista.

It was the first game of the regular season and the first varsity appearance for four of the eight Badgers who played.

Junior returning letterman Nate Borchardt led the Lampasas offense with 23 points. He had a crucial steal on a Viking inbound pass with five seconds left in the game and also broke up an inbound pass on the last play with one second to go.

Lampasas led 18-12 after the first quarter, 32-27 at halftime and 46-40 at the end of the third.

Tak Stinnett made his first varsity start, alongside returners Borchardt, Mulcahy, Quinn Pace and Jacob Hogeda.

Borchardt had 10 points and three fouls in the first half. Mulcahy scored eight before the break. The teams stayed within a few points of each other throughout the game.

The Vikings closed the gap in the fourth quarter with their highest-scoring period of the game. The score was tied 54-54 near the middle of the fourth.

Lago Vista pulled ahead 57- 54 with a three-pointer. Soon after, Borchardt scored on a fast break with 57 seconds remaining.

Turnovers went back and forth in the last minute, but Mulcahy made an offensive rebound and scored the goahead points with 48 seconds on the clock.

Lago Vista had possession with less than 10 seconds remaining, when Borchardt closed in on defense and made a diving attempt to recover a loose ball in the corner. The ball went out of bounds, and the Vikings kept the ball.

After a timeout, Borchardt stole the Vikings’ pass with five seconds left and chunked the ball down court to avoid being fouled and stopping the clock. That used most of the remaining time, but the ball bounced past the other baseline with 1.38 seconds left.

Another pass breakup by Borchardt disrupted the Vikings’ last play, and the buzzer went off before they could take a final shot.

“For the first game it was really intense,” Borchardt said, “and everything we’ve been practicing, we just kind of put it together. Even through the close late game, we just kind of put it together and did what we’re taught.”

“I told them this, ‘We don’t win that ball game without one of those guys in there,’ ” LHS head coach Aaron Nuckles said. “It took everybody.”

Austin Wilson and Anthony Ortiz came off the bench to make five rebounds each. Wilson and Niko Lewis each took a charge. Pace shot 67% from the field.

But, “we were not consistent with our execution,” Nuckles said. “We tried to thread the needle too much, put too many hard passes in there.”

Some of that had to deal with handling the Vikings’ pressure.

“When you play a trapping team like that that’s so long, your consistency’s kind of going to have ebbs and flows,” the coach said.

Borchardt said on the last several defensive plays, his focus was “just be smart, don’t foul and make sure they don’t get an easy shot … If we work most on our team chemistry and our communication, we’d be a lot better, but overall I think we did pretty well in almost everything.”

Chemistry and playing off each other’s strengths take time, especially with several new players, other teammates not competing because they are still in football, and because so many workouts in the offseason were canceled during the quarantine.

The Badgers’ game that was planned for Nov. 17 at Austin Eastside was canceled, as the Panthers are quarantined.

Lampasas is scheduled to play at Cameron Yoe on Friday at 7:15 p.m., after the JV game at 6 p.m.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Points

Nate Borchardt 23

Landon Mulcachy 10

Quinn Pace 9

Jacob Hogeda 8

Niko Lewis 4

Tak Stinnett 3

Austin Wilson 1

Rebounds

Mulcahy 10

Borchardt 9

Assists

Ortiz 4

Steals

Borchardt 7

Blocks

Hogeda 1

Mulcahy 1