RIVAL BATTLE

New Braunfels upsets San Marcos in town showdown

A raucous crowd saw a great clash between I-35 rivals as the New Braunfels Unicorns upset the #5 ranked San Marcos Rattlers, 71-66.

Despite snapping a 27game winning streak, there was no time to dwell on the defeat for senior guard Kaden Gumbs.

“We just have to flush this loss,” Gumbs said. “We lost the game so no excuses. We are not going to blame the referees or anybody but ourselves. So we are going to flush this game and move on to next Tuesday.”

Head coach Dan Miller gave his respect to the Unicorns for putting together an excellent strategy to slow down the high-powered Rattler offense while also making key plays.

“Credit to New Braunfels for playing a really good game,” Miller said. “They hit some timely shots both in the first and second halves. We left some opportunities on the floor from the free throw line to scoring opportunities on the inside.”

One of the factors for the team’s low scoring output was New Braunfels ability to play zone on the defensive side of the ball throughout the game.

“They [New Braunfels] played a really good zone defense,” Miller said. “We normally do a better job against the zone but tonight we just missed some shots and had some careless turnovers. We didn’t play at the pace we wanted to but we know we will sharpen that up.”

As a result of the stingy Unicorn defense, the Rattlers were unable to move the basketball around for more scoring opportunities which allowed New Braunfels to take advantage of that play and transition it into points.

“We were not moving enough,” Gumbs said. “We just need to have better ball movement against the zone defense because now a lot of teams are going to start zoning us.”

Despite the struggles on offense, the Rattlers were still keeping things tight against the Unicorns as San Marcos only trailed 47-45 entering the final period.

New Braunfels kicked off the fourth quarter, though, with a 11-1 run to give the Unicorns a 58-46 lead, one which soon became larger than the Rattlers could overcome.

“They hit some timely shots,” Miller said. “A few times we had a couple of breakdowns in our press defense and we let them get behind us for those dunks. We have to be better on that and be lower than the level of the ball, so teams cannot get those breakaway scores. But that’s a part of basketball, and we learn from that. The good news is that we have another opportunity to win the district championship.”

As the Rattlers prepare for Tuesday, Gumbs and his teammates will also work on addressing their mistakes in this loss in order to prepare for an expected, deep playoff run.

“We just have to work more on our zone offense,” Gumbs said. “We have to get more fluid with it so we are not surprised when our shots don’t fall. Come playoffs, a lot of teams are going to zone us so we have to practice more and get back into the lab.”

The same could be said for Miller.

“Now we have to refocus,” Miller said. “You hate losing so I hope this sharpens us up so we can get ready for Tuesday night and our playoff run.”

San Marcos looks to clinch the district title at home as the Rattlers faceoff against the East Central Hornets.

Tip-off is Tuesday at 7 p.m. from the Snake Pit in San Marcos.