Rattlers roll Lehman in Hays County Showdown

San Marcos extended its winning streak to nine games as it secured a 72-27 win over Hays County neighbor Kyle Lehman inside the Snake Pit on Tuesday.

Head basketball coach Dan Miller said the Lobos were able to hold down San Marcos’ tempo despite the score, forcing the Rattlers to find different ways to pick up the pace.

“Lehman did a really good job of moving the ball to try and slow the game down,” Miller said. “I would have liked to see us pick up the pace a little bit faster and we can do that by getting more deflections and playing better in our man to man pressure defense.”

One of the problems San Marcos faced was being cold from the 3-point line by making very few shots despite many attempts and outrebounding Lehman on the offensive boards.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well tonight,” Miller said. “We only made just four 3s the entire game. And against [Lehman’s] zone defense, we attempted at 30 so we gotta shoot the ball better and get more offensive rebounds. But we did the main things right to come away with the victory which I’m proud of.”

For the Rattlers, a way for the high powered team to maneuver around a cold shooting night is to simply attack down low.

“We talk about being paint great,” Miller said. “We say that a lot in our program. It’s about getting the ball to the paint and finishing once we are there. I thought we did it in spots but not consistent enough.”

Miller was proud of his team’s ability to refocus despite the Rattlers’ struggles Tuesday, especially to come away with the victory following a difficult River City Classic Tournament which saw the Rattlers come away with their second straight tournament championship.

“It was a good game in the fact that we got a lot of players playing time tonight,” Miller said. “We are coming off of an emotional tournament so it was good to come in here and make sure we did what we had to do.”

One of the accomplishments San Marcos wanted to achieve was win their second straight tournament despite facing a bevy of obstacles.

“We had a lot of adversity during the tournament because we had some guys out,” Miller said. “Whether it was injury, players getting injured at the tournament, one of our starters missed a game because of a funeral, so it was the next guy stepping up in that tournament. We wanted to go to the River City Classic and bring that trophy back home which was one of our goals this season. It was great to see our guys show that toughness.”

Although the Rattlers’ bench players don’t always see the court in particular games, Miller credits them for bringing what he calls “Benergy.”

“We have a lot of guys on our bench who either play a little or some don’t get into certain games,” Miller said. “But they will always bring great energy and awesome attitudes which we call ‘Benergy.’ We pride ourselves on having the best ‘Benergy’ so getting those guys who deliver the ‘Benergy’ on the court was really nice.”

San Marcos returns to play at home Friday night against Victoria West.