The Cowboy basketball team had been doing fairly well so far this year, until the schedule got a bit more difficult and started testing them as the calendar entered mid-January.
Last Monday saw a 63-45 loss at Pocahontas. The Indians held a 32-28 lead at halftime as the visiting Cowboys tried to stay with them. However, after being outscored by nine points through the third period it just wasn’t meant to be.
Two players still ended the night with double digits, led by Connor State on fire in canning 22 points on a great 9 of 12 from the field. Mateo Martinez joined him at 10 points with a trey tossed in. Coady Olson added two buckets from long range for six points total, Christian Gaytan five points and Jaxon Carpenter two points in support.
Gaytan and State ripped down five boards apiece, with Carpenter getting his mitts on four and Aiden Harrington three. Martinez, C. Olson, Landon Olson and Gavin Wilson grabbed one carom each. Gaytan and Carpenter dished out three assists each, with State making two and C. Olson one. Martinez picked off two steals, with Gaytan, C. Olson, Carpenter, Harrington and State all at one each. State went vertical for three blocked shots and Kaden Bricker two, with Gaytan, Martinez and C. Olson credited with one each.
“This was the first night of a tough back to back road trip,” stated head coach Brandon Lantzky. “We were not able to control the tempo from the start, and we played flat. It is difficult to dictate the tempo when we shoot poorly. We did not do a good job of getting the ball inside against their zone. When that happens we settle for three’s. We shot 3 of 27 from out deep that night and those shots turned into transition baskets for them. We also struggled to stop their dribble penetration.”
The following night didn’t prove much better, as the red & black traveled to Gowrie and suffered a 57-44 loss to Southeast Valley. State and Martinez were at it again, with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Gaytan and Carpenter fired in six points each, with Christian’s coming on a pair of trey’s. C. Olson hit a three-pointer, while Cael Chase added a bucket.
State almost made a double-double in cleaning the glass for eight rebounds. Carpenter finished with six, Gaytan five and both Martinez and C. Olson three each. Chase and Bricker made one rebound apiece. Gaytan dished the pumpkin for five assists, with C. Olson and State at three each and Carpenter two. Gaytan made two steals and State one, while Connor also added two blocked shots to his final line and Coady one.
“A little of our spark was back, and we hung around with a very good SEV team,” said Lantzky. “We had cut the lead down to three or four before we committed a couple of turnovers and gave up six unanswered points. We were not able to overcome that.”
The team is now 6-5 overall and travels to Hampton-Dumont/CAL this Friday.
