The Lago Vista varsity basketball team managed to hang onto a 53-50 victory over St. Andrew’s Friday after a loss to the Rouse Raiders earlier in the week.
Coming off a tough 81-63 loss from the Rouse Raiders on Dec. 8, the Vikings used a balanced offensive output from their starting five to hold the Knights and claim their seventh victory of the season against only four losses.
Sam Rubbelke’s 12 points combined with teammates Justin Flowers and JeMarcus Johnson with 10 points apiece broke through a stingy Knight defense. Defensively, Johnson and C.J. Jacque pulled down nine rebounds with three steals to pace the team.
“This was a very good team effort for us against St. Andrew’s. Our aggressiveness and focus allowed us to keep the pressure late in the game and finally wore them down,” said head coach Dan Boatright.
The Vikings jumped to an early 20-13 lead at the end of the first quarter, but went ice cold in the second as they managed only two points on 1 of 14 shooting for the field. With the Knights holding onto a 23-22 halftime lead, the Vikings came storming out in the third and put up 18 points in the third quarter while holding the Knights to just five baskets.
“We were fortunate to have a deep bench this evening,” Boatright said. “We were able to fight back every time we got down.”
The Knights were able to outscore the Vikings once again in the fourth quarter, but this time the defense held on to preserve the victory in the final two minutes of the game. The improvement in each game leading up to district is one that Boatright said tests this young team against some fierce district opponents.
“We have been fortunate to play against some really skilled teams during our non-conference schedule. With just one senior and nine juniors, this is a very young team that has taken awhile to learn patience on offense and pressure teams into committing turnovers on defense,” he said.
The victory over St. Andrew’s was a welcome sight after coming back from a 19-point defeat against Rouse Dec. 8 on the road. The Vikings frustrated their coach by falling behind early and often and not adjusting their tempo to keep up with the faster Raider team.
“We fell behind to them in every quarter, but managed to chip away at the deficit until the third quarter,” Boatright said. “They had a huge momentum swing after the half that buried us. Hopefully, with games like this, we can use them as a building block to teach us to take advantage of the opportunities that we create and minimize mental lapses.”
Lago managed to take an early 28-24 lead at the break on Rouse before they stormed ahead in the second half and put the game out of reach. Rouse went on the offensive on slot in the second half that left the Vikings bewildered and confused.
Lago Vista faces five more non-conference opponents before district play begins in January. The patience and confidence of this young team will be tested as two district foes are ranked in the top 20 of the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll.
“We have faced some really good competition up to now with our non-district schedule,” Boatright said. “Jarrell and Academy are both ranked high in the state and will be a formidable opponent to beat for district. We certainly will have our work cut out for us.”
The team faces Johnson City Friday before participating in the Thorndale Individual Tournament Dec. 28-30.
“We hope to use these last few non-conference games to help us prepare for the new season within district that is about to face us,” Boatright said.