The Levelland Lobos had their hands full with the Sweetwater Mustangs until a 10 point run early in the fourth quarter put Levelland up for good on their way to a 54-42 UIL district 5-4A high school boys’ basketball win last Friday.
Levelland found themselves down 4-1 early with their only score coming from a free-throw from Taeshaun Jones.
A basket from Jones followed by a free-throw from Konnor Alexander tied the score at four each with 4:08 left in the first period.
Sweetwater made the score 7-4 on their next possession, but a basket from Eryk Jones followed by a steal and lay-up from Jayden Castillo gave the Lobos their first lead at 8-7 with just 50 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Mustangs made the score 10-9 with nine seconds left, then Jones hit a buzzer beater to give Levelland a 12-9 lead.
The second quarter saw Levelland ahead of Sweetwater by no more than five points until the last minute.
A free-throw from Roman Comacho, followed by a basket from Stason Hernandez tied the score at 22 with 38 seconds left and prompted a timeout from the Levelland bench.
The Lobos couldn’t put a basket up and the score remained tied at half-time.
The third quarter opened with the Lobos again taking the lead, but never more than five points ahead and up only 33-30 at the buzzer.
The four quarter started the same way, but an 8-0 run early put the Lobos up 41-32 and forced the Mustangs to play catchup.
Sweetwater got to within five points with a little more than five minutes left in the game.
A trey from Jerry Haile at the three minute mark, however, doomed the Mustangs.
Sweetwater, running out of time, was forced to foul to get possession and the Lobos hit 10 of 16 free-throws while allowing the Mustangs only four points.
Taeshaun Jones had 18 points. Eryk Jones had nine. Alexander, Boggs and Castillo had seven each. Haile had five and Lecroy had two.
The Lobos will host San Angelo Lakeview at Friday 7:30 p.m.