Burnet boys basketball beats Liberty Hill, claims No. 1 seed
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
LAMPASAS — When the final horn sounded to signal the Burnet High School boys basketball team’s 51-47 win against Liberty Hill, Bulldogs fans rushed the court in celebration.
After all, it’s been 17 years since the Bulldogs (20-11 overall, 9-1 in District 8-3A) won a district title, even if it’s a co-district championship with their purple-and-gold neighbors.
This contest was to decide which team entered the playoffs as District 8-3A’s No. 1 seed. The two teams had already split the regular-season series. Burnet now will play Venus at 7 p.m. Feb. 18 at China Spring High School in a first-round match.
“This was a fun game,” Burnet head coach Roy Kiser said about the Liberty Hill match. “This is a game the kids will remember for the rest of their lives.”
But from the get-go, the third game against the Panthers belonged to the Bulldogs.
They raced to a 12-0 lead in the first behind the shooting of senior post Clayton Baumgart, who dropped in eight points. He finished with 20.
Kiser said the players wanted T-shirts that read “Feed Clayton.”
“I scored a lot, and I rebounded a lot,” Baumgart said. “I helped the team win. Before the game, I got focused. I was in the zone.”
The hot start forced Liberty Hill to call two timeouts in the first. The Panthers didn’t score a point until 1 minute 53 seconds remained in the quarter. By the end, Burnet led 16-5.
The coach said the Bulldogs had the same start when they defeated Liberty Hill 52-47 on Jan. 10.
“We’ve been saying the whole second half of district that every game is a playoff game if we want to win district,” he said. “We know we have to (play solid defense.) No one knows Liberty Hill better than we do. We should play good defense on them because we know what they’re going to do.”
After sophomore guard Darius Johnson gave the Bulldogs an 18-5 lead 30 seconds into the second period, Liberty Hill reeled off eight straight points to trim the deficit to 18-13.
But senior guard Derek Kiser found Baumgart for an alley-oop. From there, the two squads exchanged baskets, with Burnet leading 26-17 at the half.
The Panthers continued to chip away at the deficit. By the end of the third, the Bulldogs led 37-30.
Burnet led by as many as nine points early in the fourth quarter. But Liberty Hill simply made shots when it had to: from the top of the key, on drives to the baskets, on offensive rebounds and from the foul line.
With 2:11 left, Liberty Hill sophomore guard Connor Lowe hit two free throws, though Burnet led 46-43.
The Bulldogs responded by going into a stall. Liberty Hill senior captain Tristan Heidelberg grabbed the ball and was fouled just before he could make the layup. But he only hit one free throw.
As a result, Burnet went back to its stall and made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 44 seconds to secure the win.
“Credit to Liberty Hill for their game plan and playing so well,” Kiser said. “Tonight was fun. Credit to our guys. They did enough to keep the lead. We made our free throws and kept it a two-possession game.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com