San Marcos got into a dogfight against Schertz Clemens on Friday.
The Rattlers put together a strong performance against the Buffaloes with four players scoring in double digits. But Clemens pulled away in the fourth quarter to secure an 85-75 win inside the Snake Pit.
“I thought we played really well,” head coach Thomas Acker said. “I think, you know, it came down to we had some turnovers that really hurt us. I feel like the turnovers that we had, again, they were self-imposed. Some of those were really self-imposed turnovers and they made us pay. I’m proud of our guys. I felt like they fought for 32 minutes. I felt like going into halftime we were in pretty good position as long as we came out and won the first four minutes of the third quarter. I’m just real proud of our grit and our toughness.”
The first few possessions displayed what kind of game was in store. San Marcos (9-22, 2-9 26-6A) scored the first basket of the night from junior guard CJ Valencia. But Clemens (19-10, 9-2) quickly answered with a 3-pointer. San Marcos regained the lead on the following possession with a bucket from senior forward Mason Green.
Both teams traded points until Clemens finished the first quarter on a 5-0 run to take an 18-11 lead into the second frame.
San Marcos fought back twice to get to within four points but the Buffaloes kept answering the Rattlers’ runs. But San Marcos ended the half strongly after senior guard Pablo Rios stole the ball in the final seconds and put a layup right before the buzzer to cut Clemens’ lead to 43-38 at the end of the half.
The Buffaloes built an advantage as large as 11 in the third quarter. The Rattlers, however, received a late-quarter 3-pointer from Rios to get to within 65-59 at the end of the period.
“On the (offensive) end, that’s a positive,” Acker said. “I felt like our guys did a good job of having some IQ as far as what we wanted to get done on offense. Like, if we didn’t have the numbers then we did a fairly decent job of getting back out and at least getting into some organized set so that we could attack them.”
Junior guard Joey Hernandez knocked down a trey to cut the deficit to 70-66 early in the fourth. But that would be as close as the Rattlers would get. Clemens closed out the game with an 85-75 win.
Green paced San Marcos with 21 points. Rios added 14 points, while Valencia and Hernandez both scored 13 points.
Despite the loss, Acker said this game showed what the Rattlers are capable of doing.
“I mean, I think they’ve come a long way.” Acker said. “I just think, honestly, we get in our own way a lot. We have a lot of self-imposed bumps in the road … (This game) shows that they’re still working. It shows that they still care. It shows that they still have a lot of pride in representing this school and the program. It shows that they’re still coachable. Despite the record and despite where we are in the district standings, it shows they’re still hungry. They wanted to win tonight. I truly felt like they thought they could.”
San Marcos travels to New Braunfels to take on the Unicorns on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
