Friday, April 26, 2024
Banner Allman scored 28 points, Tyler Shea had a career-high 26 points, and Gatesville held Brownwood scoreless over the final 3:31 as the Hornets ran away with an 84-67 boys basketball win over the Lions on Friday night.
The win makes the Hornets 3-0 this season against opponents from District 6-4A – which had been their home from 2020-2022. They beat Lampasas twice in non-district play and traveled to Stephenville on Jan. 10 with a chance to make it a 4-0 sweep against former district foes.
Against Brownwood, the Hornets (20-3) played like a team bent on exacting revenge against a Lions team that beat them by an average of 23 points per game in the four district matchups from 2019-2022.
They jumped out to an 11-1 lead thanks to seven points from Banner Allman, a layup from Carter Williams and a Tyler Shea dunk. But the Lions battled back thanks to the streak shooting of Tristan Salinas.
The senior guard scored 29 points on 24 shots including five made three-pointers. His two first-quarter threes helped the Lions to cut the Hornet lead to 25-23 after the first quarter.
“Brownwood came at us. They were hitting some really tough shots and a couple things didn’t go our way. They picked it up, but we just picked it up a little more than they did,” head coach Brit Campbell said.
In the second, the Hornets ran up another 23 points while holding Brownwood to 11 to take a 48-34 lead. They opened the second half with a lob from Trae Miller to Shea to push the lead to 50-34.
Shea – arguably the most electric player in Gatesville basketball history – had four dunks on the night and was dominant on both ends against the Lions.
“He’s been practicing like that. He wants to make a statement and he wants our team to make a statement,” said Campbell. “It’s not just him though, it’s everybody. They’re continually challenging each other in practice to do better and hold each other accountable.”
That accountability was needed in the third quarter when Salinas caught fire again hitting three more three-pointers and helping cut the Hornets’ lead to 61-58 after three quarters.
“I don’t think we let it phase us too much and we responded the right way when we needed to,” Campbell said.
Campbell noted that the job of getting his team back on the same page often falls to a different Hornet depending on the game and the situation.
“Sometimes it’s Trae (Miller), sometimes its Banner, sometimes it’s Tyler, and sometimes its Carter and they do it in different ways. But what’s really good is when they all do it together at the same time. That’s when it’s really special. That’s what I wanted them to do and that’s what they did.”
The Hornets led 68-61 with five minutes to play before closing with a 16-6 run that was highlighted by a steal and coast-to-coast dunk from Shea. The Lions’ last basket was a three-pointer at the 3:31 mark to cut the lead to 76-67, followed by an 8-0 closing stretch from the Hornets to seal the win.
West Allman scored 12 points, while Rayshon Smith had nine points including hitting 7 of 8 free throws. Carter Williams had five points, five assists, and three steals.
The victory snapped the Hornets’ first two-game losing streak of the season. After losing to Abilene Wylie on Dec. 30 they lost an exhibition game 77-66 to Diamond Valley Basketball club out of Australia on Jan. 2.
Shea had 25 points and 12 rebounds in the loss while Banner Allman had 17 points and nine rebounds. West Allman had 13 points and Williams scored eight points.
The win gives The Hornets their first 20-win season since 2007-2008 season. At 20-3, they need to win at least seven of their final eleven to tie the 2007-2008 team at 27 victories in a single season.
I wrote that on the board in (the locker room). I wrote “20” and they said, ‘how about 30?’, Campbell said. “I said how about 31?’. We have Stephenville and ten district games left in the regular season.”
Gatesville – ranked No. 14 in the most recent MaxPreps rankings — will host Connally (No. 9 by MaxPreps) to open District 23-4A play on Jan. 13. The Hornets have not defeated the Cadets since a 47-41 decision on Jan. 27, 2017, when the two were opponents in District 17-4A.
