Thursday, May 2, 2024
A 4-1, third place showing in the Coach Smith Tournament in Salado has the Gatesville boys’ basketball team off to an 8-2 start as they prepare for another round of tournament play this weekend in Cameron.
The Hornets, champions of the Coach Smith Tournament a year ago, beat Pflugerville, Austin Royals, Rockdale, and Bandera and fell to 4A No. 12 Krum.
In the tournament opener, the Hornets topped 5A Pflugerville 65-62 in a rematch of last year’s tournament championship game. Gatesville trailed 17-8 after one quarter but charged back to take a 29-26 halftime lead then held on in a back-and-forth second half to secure the win.
The Hornets shot 21-of-30 from the foul line in the win, led by West Allman’s 10-for-14 effort. Allman had 18 points and eight rebounds in the win. Kase Cox had 17 points, while Charlie Winkler knocked down four three-pointers on his way to a fifteen-point night.
The 69-33 rout of Austin Royals was over by halftime as the Hornets led 24-8 after the first quarter and 41-17 at the half. Allman led the scoring with 22 points, while Cox added 16. Amos Phillips had his best game since joining the team from football with ten points and five rebounds. Graceson Stewart had seven rebounds, and Winkler added two more three-pointers in the win.
Rayshon Smith turned in his best game of the season so far with 18 points and seven rebounds in a 69-39 win over Rockdale. Smith was a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the three-point line and took the Hornets only charge of the game. It was one of eight Smith took in the tournament giving him 10 through eight games played. Last season, Smith set a school-record with 48 charges taken in 36 games.
Allman had 16 points in the win, while Cox chipped in ten. Phillips turned in an 8-point, six-rebound game and Winkler led with four assists.
In a 74-43 loss to No. 12 Krum, anything that could go wrong for the Hornets did. They shot just 29% from the field, missed all nine of their three-point attempts, and hit just 15-of-28 foul shots. On the contrary, Krum knocked down 11 of their 26 three-point attempts.
Cox shined for Gatesville in the loss with 13 points and four rebounds while Smith was the only other Hornets in double digits with 11 points.
In the third-place game, the Hornets bounced back with a 56-42 win over a solid Bandera squad. Cox starred again in the win by picking up a 14-point, 13-rebound double double. Allman led in scoring with 17 points and had nine rebounds, while Stewart collected nine rebounds of his own.
Gatesville outrebounded Bandera 57-35, and the Bulldogs shot an astounding 3-for-32 from the three-point line in the loss.
Through ten games, Allman leads the Hornets with 19.2 points per game and 7.2 rebounds per game. Cox is averaging 11.7 points and 5.9 rebounds, while Smith is the leading assist man at two per game.
The Hornets are holding their opponents to an average of 50.2 points per game and forcing just under 20 turnovers per game.
Gatesville was off on Dec. 5 and travels to the Cameron Yoe Tournament in Cameron Dec. 7-9. They will face Hempstead in the opener, the Aussie Travelers in game two, then play Lake Belton in their final game of pool play.
