Turnovers kept playing peek-a-boo with the Rattlers.
Even though San Marcos (14-15, 2-7 district) has an abundance of underclassmen, assistant coach Jason Napoli doesn’t look at his players as freshmen anymore. The team has gone through the first round of district play and Napoli believes the younger players have had enough time to get acclimated to the speed and pace of the game.
But the speed and the pace of Converse Judson (21-9, 9-0) isn’t something you can get acclimated to because they play faster than most of the competition. San Marcos turned the ball over four times in the first quarter, forced by Judson’s full-court trap which seemed like it had the purple and white rattled. And against the No. 1 team in the district, transition points off of steals and some inaccurate passes ended up costing San Marcos a chance to pull off an upset at home, losing to Judson, 95-76.
“A team like that is just trying to speed you up and that’s what they do. They don’t run a whole lot of stuff, they speed you up, get turnovers, get points in transition. I mean that’s what they do,” head coach Steven Pinchback said. “I mean, nobody in this league or our league really plays defense, is what I’m learning. It’s just like a race. Right now we just don’t have enough ammo to take it all the way to 80 or 90 (points). We need to be 50 or below and eventually when we learn the right way to play, we’ll start having some of those because we’re gonna be a defensive team. It’s just right now, we’re not because we’re still learning.”
San Marcos took care of the ball in the middle quarters and it showed on the scoreboard. Senior guard Sam Johnson came into the game and provided instant energy. The ball bounced off of the rim as Johnson came flying in for a putback layup over the middle, slicing the lead to six with 3:09 left in the second quarter. The Rattler defense was flustering the visitors, allowing them to cut the lead down to 45-43 before the half.
Pinchback was happy with Johnson’s play off the bench during the second-quarter comeback.
“We needed time to let him get out there and get loose a little bit. Some of our other guys needed a breather,” Pinchback said. “Anytime he is out there, he’s like the Energizer Bunny so he kinda helps you look good. So I'm proud of that.”
San Marcos took care of the ball again with only one lapse in judgment in the third, only leaving them down 65-60. But the script flipped in the fourth when the team gave Judson the ball three times in the first two minutes. The best team in the district capitalized on those opportunities in the midst of a 12-2 run. Eventually, those transition points added up in the end with Judson scoring 30 points in the fourth quarter, capped off by an alley-oop flush by junior forward Davion Wilson. The dunk kept the Rockets undefeated in district play.
“They’re so dang athletic. We handled it in phases,” Pinchback said. “Eventually, you just don’t have enough bullets in your gun. That’s a program that’s one of the most dominant programs in this area. You have to play four complete quarters. Started shaky, then kinda regrouped and rebounded, it was good. You just have to play all the way through, that’s the battle.”
Davion Wilson dominated the paint all night for Judson and finished with a game-high 18 points. Four other Rocket players finished in double figures as well.
The road doesn’t get any easier for San Marcos as they run into Cibolo Steele (15-12, 5-4) next Tuesday at 7 p.m. Pinchback asserted that his team won’t quit fighting, even with their playoff hopes falling out of the equation.
“It’s no easy task for what we have going on, so we can’t hang our head. We don’t do that,” Pinchback said. “We’re on to the next and we’ll prepare tomorrow by coming in, we’ll lift weights, watch video, get ready for Steele, play that game and then get ready for the next opponent. There are no days off. In this league, you can beat anybody and you can get beat by anybody. We’re learning this league, figuring out what people do. It’s all a part of the process. We’re all going to be fine, it’s just not necessarily about this year. This is your foundation. You start from the bottom and start working yourself up and it's gonna be OK in San Marcos, Texas. I promise that.”
