by MOSES LEOS III
Trailing by as many as 12 points in the second half, the Lehman High boys’ basketball team mounted a furious fourth quarter rally, only to fall short to Kerrville Tivy 42-40 at the Lobo Den on Tuesday.
Led by senior guard De’Andre Carson’s 27-point effort, Lehman (14-18, 2-8) began its resurgence by hitting important buckets with six minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Eventually, Lehman whittled down Tivy’s double-digit second half lead to only two with 52 seconds to go in the contest.
“We had to step up as a team. In the first half, our shots were not falling. We just kept encouraging each other to keep taking shots, telling everyone that eventually they would fall. Sure enough, they did,” said Carson, who was assisted by senior guard Chris Hicks, who finished with six points.
After a couple of Tivy missed free throws down the stretch, Lehman would have one last possession with 1.9 seconds remaining to either tie or take the lead. Unfortunately, a courageous three point attempt by Carson fell short; Lehman’s comeback bid was not to be.
“Our kids fought extremely hard tonight. We pressured (Tivy’s offense) into mistakes in the fourth quarter, which affected them. We were able to deny their star players the ball, while we hit our shots. Unfortunately, we just ran out of time,” said Lobo head coach Thomas Acker.
Lehman’s next game will be on the road at Lockhart on Friday. Leading Kerrville Tivy in scoring were Blake Ray and Rowdy Winters with 10 points.
