Turnovers hurt Mustangs in match against Lake Travis
MARBLE FALLS — The Marble Falls High School boys basketball team’s early emotional surge wasn’t enough to hold off District 25-4A’s top team Jan. 17.
The Mustangs (0-5) lost to Lake Travis (5-0) 73-48.
PHOTO 1: Marble Falls High School junior post Rey Baltazar scores two of his first-half 10 points in the loss to Lake Travis on Jan. 17. Baltazar finished with 15 points. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
Marble Falls committed more than 20 turnovers in the game, with eight coming in the opening stanza after the Mustangs took an early 7-2 lead.
Lake Travis head coach Clint Baty, once the head coach of the Mustangs from 2004-2008, said several opponents have taken the court with a lot of emotion, but his players have handled it.
"That’s something we need to work on," he said. "We feel like we’re getting everybody’s best effort. This is probably the deepest team I’ve coached, which allows us to get a lot of kids in and not lose a beat."
The Cavaliers responded with a 10-0 run that led to an 18-10 advantage at the end of the period.
"We couldn’t hit our rhythm," Mustangs head coach Bruce Etheridge said. "We kept it at eight. It seemed like we were always two passes away from a blowout or two passes away from being there. I felt like we played good enough defense in the first half. We had silly turnovers, and we forced the ball."
Lake Travis continued to apply the pressure and dropped in 22 points during the second and third quarters to cruise to the victory.
"I thought our kids played with a lot of intensity and a lot of energy," Baty said. "Our play does frustrate people. We feel like when the other team is frustrated, we feel like we’ve done our job. We’re not doing anything intentional to frustrate people. Nobody likes somebody being in their face."
Marble Falls junior post Rey Baltazar paced the Mustangs with 15 points, 10 in the first half. The Cavaliers’ Matt Tyson led all scorers with 16.
"Rey got us off to a good start," Etheridge said. "We just didn’t get enough attempts. We’re not getting enough ball movement to get everybody involved in the system."
The two teams combined to attempt 68 free throws with Marble Falls making 17 and Lake Travis connecting on 23.
Marble Falls will travel to Dripping Springs 7 p.m. Jan. 20.