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San Marcos stormed back from an early, first quarter deficit to take a halftime lead. But third-quarter struggles doomed the Rattlers in a 79-61 loss to New Braunfels Canyon on Friday inside the Snake Pit.
Head coach Thomas Acker said a combination of rebound-putbacks from the Cougars and cold shooting hurt the Rattlers in the third quarter.
“I really think what it was, we got stagnant on offense,” Acker said. “We took a lot of perimeter shots without getting paint touches and really without dislodging the defense or moving the defense, and we were not making them. And that led into some transition and then on the other end it just so happened (Canyon’s Joshua Rainey) and (Isaiah Mchenry) were playing volleyball at the rim getting rebound-putbacks and things like that ... We just didn’t get paint touches. We weren’t moving the ball as well as we were in the first half.”
Canyon (16-10, 2-5 26-6A) jumped out to an 11-0 lead over San Marcos (8-19, 1-6). But the Rattlers went on a quick 8-1 run to get themselves to within 12-8. The Cougars extended their lead to 18-12 at the end of the first quarter.
But San Marcos continued to push the pace and eventually tied the game at 20-20. The Rattlers built a lead as large as 29-25 but Canyon rallied to go on top 30-29.
San Marcos, however, finished the half with five points and took a 35-34 lead into the intermission.
The Rattlers held their final lead of the game at 37-36 early in the third quarter. Canyon seized control of Friday’s game with a 16-0 run to grab a 52-37 advantage. The Cougars took a 58-40 lead into the third quarter.
San Marcos got to within 12 points but a technical foul gave Canyon two free throws and possession, which the Cougars used to extend their lead. Later in the quarter, Canyon received two more free throws and possession after an intentional foul. Acker said those two fouls killed the Rattlers’ momentum.
“It put them on the line, gave them the ball,” Acker said. “Obviously, we’ve got to keep our composure. The technical is just a bad play in that situation, making a run maybe our emotions got the best of us there. The intentional foul was trying to prevent a layup but didn’t make a play on the ball. It’s the right call. Both of them are the right call … Momentum killer. I felt like the guys on the floor at the time were really, really working hard.”
Canyon secured the win in 79-61 fashion.
San Marcos senior forward Mason Green led the Rattlers with 19 points followed by senior guard Pablo Rios’ 15 points and junior guard CJ Valencia’s 11 points.
San Marcos returns to action on Tuesday against East Central (18-10, 4-4) at 7 p.m. inside the Snake Pit. Despite Friday’s loss, Acker believes the Rattlers are close to stringing wins together.
“If you look at the last three: New Braunfels, a six-point loss, where we would like to think our locker room they got away with one,” Acker said. “Obviously, we played better at Smithson Valley than having a buzzer-beater. We controlled a lot of that game but at the same time, we got ourself in a situation where we were in a tied ballgame and we made a shot. And then this game, obviously a rollercoaster of a game. I think our lows are just hard to recover from. We just dig ourself a hole.
“But we’re close, man. I mean we’ve got East Central coming in on Tuesday. I really think that we can beat that team. We’ve got to do a better job on the glass and do a better job of not giving up so many paint points.”
