Friday, May 10, 2024
The Gatesville Basketball teams came out of the Christmas break swinging with the boys capturing the championship of the biggest high school basketball tournament in Texas and the girls winning three of their last five games.
In the Texas Holiday Bank Classic in Brownwood, the Hornets (19-4) toppled Wall, Alvarado, Abilene Wylie, and Maine-Endwell (NY) to capture their second tournament title of the season. They dropped a trap game at Maypearl 68-63 on Jan. 2 and have two more non-district games before opening 23-4A play on Jan. 12 at Connally.
The Lady Hornets went 2-2 in the Troy Holiday Classic picking up wins over Life Waxahachie and Whitney while falling to Bosqueville and West. They took down rival Lampasas 38-32 on the road on Jan. 2 to move to 10-12 on the season – one more win than a year ago.
The Texas Holiday Bank Classic Tournament featured 47 boys and girls teams with 94 games played over three days. The Hornets captured the Boys Big School crown thanks to a trio of heart-stopping wins.
In their pool-play opener they took down the Wall Hawks 53-48 behind 13 points and 10 rebounds from sophomore Charlie Winkler and 14 points and five rebounds from Rayshon Smith.
The game was played at 8 a.m. on the Hornets first day back in action, and they appeared to sleep walk through the opening frame. They were down 13-7 after the first quarter then outscored the Hawks 37-19 over the middle two quarters for the win.
In their second pool play against Alvarado, the Hornets cruised to a 35-18 halftime lead and led 48-32 after three quarters before Alvarado outscored the Hornets 26-11 in the fourth. A pair of Kase Cox free throws in the final seconds gave Gatesville a 59-55 lead. Then the Indians hit a three-pointer to make it a 59-58 final.
Cox had 15 points and 6 rebounds and West Allman – the tournament MVP – had 15 points and 5 rebounds. Amos Phillips had nine rebounds and Graceson Stewart had seven boards off the bench.
It was Phillips who starred in the semi-final win over Abilene Wylie taking an inbounds pass from Rayshon Smith with 4 seconds left and hitting the game-winner to give Gatesville a 59-58 win. Phillips had 16 points and 8 rebounds in the win. West Allman had 13 points and eight rebounds while Smith had ten points and Kase Cox had six rebounds. Scout Hall came off the bench to chip in five points.
The win was also a measure of revenge for Gatesville as Wylie ended the Hornets 17-game winning streak a season ago in the same tournament semi-final.
The championship game was a 63-61 win over Maine-Endwell out of southern New York State, and the Hornets again jumped out to a lead then held on for the win. They led 52-40 going into the fourth quarter but were outscored 21-11 in the period.
Winkler carried the Hornets in the title game with 23 points. He buried four three-pointers and was a perfect 7-7 from the foul line in the game. Cox (12 points and nine rebounds), Allman (11 points and nine rebounds), and Stewart (seven rebounds) placed Gatesville in the win.
The Hornets traveled to Brownwood on Jan. 5 to take on the Lions then wrap non-district with a home game against Stephenville on Jan. 9.
The Lady Hornets open district play on Jan. 9 at Robinson. They took down the Lady Rockets in the district opener a year-ago in Gatesville.
La Vega remains the district favorite with a record of 18-8 and are the current No. 2 ranked team in 4A. Connally is 19-8 and ranked No. 11 in the most recent TABC polls. Gatesville will battle Salado (12-9), Robinson (10-12) and China Spring (5-16) for a playoff spot.
