Marble Falls boys end season with loss to Leander
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
LEANDER — The Marble Falls High School boys basketball team lost 55-49 to Leander on Feb. 12 to end its season.
The Mustangs end District 25-4A winless for the second time in three seasons.
Head coach Neil Laminack, who is in his second year at the helm, said the record doesn’t indicate how close several of the games were throughout the year.
Marble Falls lost to Leander Vandegrift by a total of 20 points in both games and to Leander by a total of nine points in both contests. The Mustangs lost 42-39 to Cedar Park Vista Ridge on Jan. 10, 61-56 to Leander Rouse on Jan. 28, 60-53 to Leander Vandegrift on Jan. 31 and 55-52 to Dripping Springs on Feb. 8.
“We were playing within two to three points against the best in district, the worst in district, and everyone in between,” he said. “We’re good enough to compete and be in games until the very end.”
The biggest difference between this season and last year, when Marble Falls was 2-10 in division play, he said, was that when it became apparent the Mustangs weren’t going to advance to the playoffs, “we shut it down.”
“The biggest thing this year is the guys played until the end,” he said. “Things like that are very important. Our next step is closing out those games.”
Against Leander on Feb. 12, the Mustangs trailed by 12 points when they went on a run. Laminack said his players used their full-court defense to fuel their offense and began to foul to conserve time. The Lions weren’t able to make their free throws at first, which also helped, he said.
With 14 seconds left, Marble Falls was behind by three points but had possession. The Mustangs passed it around the perimeter and attempted a 3-pointer to tie.
“It goes in and out,” Laminack said.
jfierro@thepicayune.com
ON OFFENSE: points – Danny Rivera 14, Ben Stripling 12, J.T. Watson 9, Aidin Parnell 6, Cody Seelig 4, Zuri Buchanan 4
RECORDS: Marble Falls finishes at 10-23 overall and 0-12 in District 25-4A.