By MARK MOLINA | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
VICTORIA — After staging a 26-point comeback win in the area round of the playoffs Tuesday night, the First Baptist Crusaders found themselves down 14 to defending TAPPS 3A state champion Our Lady of the Hills (Kerrville).
Only this time there would be no comeback to remember, just a second half the Crusaders want to quickly forget.
After trailing the Hawks by just seven at the half, the Crusaders went cold from the field in the final 16 minutes and could not keep up, resulting in a 66-49 loss in the TAPPS 3A regional quarterfinals Saturday night at St. Joseph High School in Victoria.
Aside from a quick 2-0 lead, the Crusaders (11-6) trailed the entire way, but did not fall behind double digits until the third quarter where they made just three shots from the field and saw the Hawks (27-6) open the quarter with a 17-7 run.
“The biggest difference from the very beginning was the missed opportunities,” First Baptist head coach George E. Solis said. “We had opportunities to score layups and we didn’t and we had opportunities to shoot three-pointers and we didn’t shoot.
“We never quit, but their stuff fell tonight and our stuff didn’t.”
Trailing 46-29, the Crusaders tried to climb back in the game with a 6-0 spurt highlighted by a Juan Pena 3-pointer to make it an 11-point game, but Hawks’ William Westfall ended the move with a trey of his own with 42 seconds left in the third.
That would end the quarter and the Crusaders would not get any closer the rest of the way.
“(The Hawks) worked harder and just played better than us,” said Pena, who finished with a team-high 15 points. “They closed out better and they did what they need to do … they just played really good. Shots weren’t falling and they played really good defense.”
Following Solis was point Guard George A. Solis with 13 points.
Leading Our Lady of the Hills was Travis Reeh with 19 points, James Westfall with 15 and Hunter Taylor with 14.
The Hawks jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead in the early going of the first quarter, but the Crusaders weathered the storm and settled in with buckets from Steph Crumley and Pena.
The Hawks again created a cushion and led 15-8 late in the first, but a three from Steph Crumley set up a 7-0 that would tie the game at 15-15 with 6:24 to play in the first half.
The Crusaders went on a scoring the drought before the half, hitting just twice from the field in the last six minutes, while the Hawks went into the half up seven.
In the third, the Crusaders continued to struggle from the field and in the paint on defense, while the Hawks outscored them 20-13, eight of which came from James Westfall.
“We didn’t do a good job of closing out,” Coach Solis said. “We didn’t rotate right and when we made adjustments, our big guy got in trouble. That’s a real good team, the defending state champs. Our boys did okay, but the stuff that usually falls for us, didn’t tonight.”
In the fourth, The Crusaders had their best quarter of the night with 14 points, including three 3s, but still struggled making just two shots inside the arc.
“We played a pretty good team, but we just missed a lot of those shots we usually make,” said Crusader point guard George A. Solis. “It was kind of frustrating because we couldn’t drop shots and they just kept scoring and scoring. We just couldn’t seem to get a bucket to go in and we lost our momentum.”