Rattlers fall to Judson in heated game, Look to rebound against rival Unicorns

San Marcos came up just short Friday night.

The Rattlers fell 68-64 in an intense district matchup against Converse Judson that came down to the wire. San Marcos thought they had forced the turnover they needed on a potential travel with two and a half seconds left on the clock, but officials ruled that the Rockets had called timeout. The Rattlers was forced to foul afterwards which secured Judson the victory.

“We had a lot of support tonight — we felt that — the gym was loud (and) it was a great game. Both fan bases were treated to a great game of young men playing extremely hard,” head coach Dan Miller said. “I’m proud of them. The greatest thing about sports is its [like] life. You know, it’s ups and downs, and we had some ups and downs throughout that game, but we never gave up. And that’s what I’m proud of our guys for. That’s the way this district’s gonna be, it’s a tough district. We’re going to fight hard every night and on to the next one, but we got to keep our heads up high and stay together. That’s the biggest thing.”

There was ball pressure and intensity from both squads from the opening tip. Each team stayed glued to their man during offensive sets, staying tight on off-ball movement and in isolation. The Rockets started the game with a 7-5 lead midway through the first, but then the Rattlers responded with a 12-5 run to end the quarter which gave them a 17-15 lead.

Judson responded to open the second, winning the first half of the period 12-9. Senior center Ory Williams was the Rattlers' main offensive threat early, getting to the foul line and converting contested buckets inside the paint. The Rockets would hold their advantage throughout the second half of the quarter, winning 22-17 which gave them a 36-34 halftime lead.

“Our halftime point of emphasis were taking care of the ball and not being careless. I thought it wasn’t for a lack of concentration, but we just had some slips tonight with the ball. The ball kind of slipped out of our hands early [which led to turnovers], and it did again in the second half. We’ve got to be a little tighter and tougher to the ball, be more two handed,” Miller said. “And then we had Ory going, so just continuing to get the ball hit to him and get the ball to Donovan [Riddick] going downhill. But you know, we got to get shots for Zyaire [Jolivette]. We've got to get shots for Josiah [Hollmon]. Cash was in foul trouble. That’s on the coaches, and when I say coaches, that starts and stops with me. Just with that fifth foul we didn’t realize he had four fouls. We thought he had three and that fouled him out. But we’ll do a better job as a team.”

San Marcos came out the aggressor, starting the third with a 7-4 lead midway through. The defensive intensity didn’t go anywhere after halftime, with both teams coming out hounding their opponent. The Rockets finished the second half of the quarter 11-9 which gave them a 51-50 lead heading into the fourth — but that was after junior guard Sergio Gutierez hit a buzzer- beating three which cut Judson’s lead to one.

Judson opened up the first two minutes of the final period on a 8-2 run. The Rockets were able to get two free throws on a technical foul called on the Purple and White and also got their shotgoing from the outside. San Marcos would come storming back to cut Judson’s lead to 63-62, but Judson ended the game 5-2 to secure the win at 68-64.

“Every game you’re going to face a good team. Every team [in this district] has a winning record and not by [just] one game. Like tonight, I think Justin had the most losses but they’re 15 and 10. Two of those losses were close games where they led in the fourth quarter in our district. The rest of our teams — I think almost all — have 20 wins like we do,” Miller said. “So our mentality is just gonna be [stay] focused and in the moment to stay in contention as the season goes on. So at the end of the year — that last game or second to last game — we can punch our ticket to the playoffs. That’s what we have to do. So, we’ll stay together and fight hard.”

The Rattlers will return to the floor on Jan. 23 at New Braunfels high school to face off with the Unicorns.

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