By Kyle Lehnick
The Austin Maroons went 5 of 7 from beyond the arc in the second half against the Lehman Lobos Friday as they paved their way to a 63-41 win.
Austin hit half of its three pointers, as it went 7 of 14 from the three-point line in the game. The Lobos’ offense struggled as they only went 4 of 15 from three-point range.
“We didn’t shoot the ball as well as the first time we played them and that hurt us a little bit,” Lehman head coach Michael Whitten said. “They caught fire there at the end… hitting shots that they weren’t in the first two quarters.”
Both teams opened the game playing man-to-man defense, but quickly switched to a zone, which forced shots from the perimeter. Austin led Lehman 14-13 at the end of the first quarter.
Both teams made their best attempt to break the opposition’s zone defense as the second half progressed. Lehman tried feeding the ball into the paint, where 6’6” junior Kameron Edwards and 6’3” Tyler Henderson were met by double teams. Travel violations also hindered Lehman’s progress in the paint.
Austin High responded by transitioning quickly down the floor and creating easy baskets.
Whitten said the Lobos were “really competitive” when they shoot well, but struggle when they don’t. He added they’ve “got to find ways to score other than the perimeter.”
“We tried to get Kam (Edwards) and Tyler Henderson the ball down low but they kind of sandwiched them and got a couple travel calls,” Whitten said. “It was definitely a focal point to try and get Edwards or Henderson the ball down low and see if they can score for us.”
Austin’s lead expanded to 25-17 at halftime. The Maroons opened the third quarter with a six-point scoring streak within the first minute. From there, the Marroons continued to make shots, almost doubling their halftime score in the third quarter.
While the Lobos struggled with a poor shooting night, Whitten said the team is making improvements as the season comes to a close.
“We’ve become better as group with our system, but we’re just in an extremely competitive district,” Whitten said.
The second half of district play also played a factor in Lehman’s struggles. Whitten said contests were “really close” during the first half of the season.
“Teams have made adjustments the second time they played us, and we have to make better adjustments on the fly,” Whitten said. “We’ll keep working on those things for the remainder of the season and maybe we can get things turned around now instead of waiting till next season.”
But he lauded Austin’s game plan.
“They, (Austin High), are well-coached. They had a game plan and unfortunately for us, they ran it pretty well,” Whitten said.
