by Moses Leos III
A 3-1 record over a three day span earned the Hays Rebel boys basketball team a second place overall finish at the Hays CISD Classic Tournament on Dec. 4-6.
The Rebel boys claimed second place Satuday after falling to the Pflugerville Connally Cougars 71-65 in the Hays CISD Classic Tournament title game at Bales Gym.
Hays senior Jerome Scaturro scored a game-high 17-points Saturday, while senior Nate Alvarado contributed 13 points. Both Scaturro and Alvarado were named All-Tournament selections. Connally was led by dual 15 point efforts from junior Jalen Harris and senior Jaylen Shead.
Connally held a 15-13 first quarter lead before the Rebels rallied back. A three pointer from Rebel junior Jake Krafka gave Hays a 20-19 lead with less than six minutes before halftime. Krafka finished with 12 points in the contest.
Hays and Connally traded buckets, with the Cougars outscoring Hays 13-10 to take a 32-30 lead into intermission.
A flurry of runs dicated the pace of the play in the third quarter. Connally opened the second half with a 9-0 run, which was immediately followed by a pair of three-pointers, capped off by a three from the wing by Alvarado.
Connally held a 43-37 lead before going on a 8-0 run to take a 51-37 third quarter advantage. That was shortly followed by a quarter closing 6-0 flurry by Hays to pull within eight at 51-43 after three quarters.
The Rebels maintained momentum to start the fourth quarter. Back-to-back three-pointers by Scaturro cut the Cougars' lead to 51-49 with less than seven minutes to play. But two points was as close Hays got to Connally the rest of the way.
Connally proved too much in the latter moments, using physical play to earn multiple trips to the foul line.
The Cougars scored ten of the team's 20 fourth quarter points from the charity stripe. Shead scored eight points in the final eight minutes, six points from the free throw line. It allowed the Cougars to stay one step ahead of the Rebels. Connally led 55-53 and proceeded to outscore Hays 16-12 in the final 4:58 of the game.
Hays sophomore Charles Bohannon scored eight points, while senior Heath Agnew had seven points before exiting in the third quarter due to injury. Connally's Calvin Britton scored 11 points, while Jarren Wright scored nine.
