The Whiteface Antelopes basketball team fell to the New Home Leopards this past Tuesday at home, 5751, dropping to 5-2 on the season.
The Antelopes trailed by 14 at one point and got the lead down to five points in the fourth quarter, but the comeback fell just short.
“New Home’s a good ball team, and we knew they were going to do what they did, shoot the ball extremely well,” Antelopes Head Coach Brandon Flores said. “We got down big and told our guys that we've got to just start cutting it down, to get stop after stop and create adverse moments. But kudos to those guys, they shot the ball extremely well. I was proud of our guys for their fight. They did exactly what I asked them to do.”
As Coach Flores alluded to, the difference in game was New Home’s threepoint shooting, which the Antelopes figured out how to stop just a bit too late.
They outscored New Home 17-9 in the fourth quarter after shoring up their perimeter defense, and a big part why was Isaak Soliz, who had 11 fourth quarter points.
Soliz led the Antelopes in scoring with 19 points on the night, almost playing hero and leading a full-blown comeback in the fourth.
“Isaak’s been really good of late. We've got to feed our posts the ball,” Coach Flores said. “Isaak does a really good job of making plays. He’s so hard to guard because he’s so long and gets up for that shot, the ball’s really high.”
Other offensive standouts were Cesar Chavez with 13 points and Ivaniel Gandara with 12 points.
Following the loss, the Antelopes play one more game over the weekend before Christmas break. They’ll return to action on Dec. 29-31 at the Littlefield Tournament.