The Ropes Eagles gave the visiting Plains Cowboys all they wanted, but couldn’t hang on to the end, falling to the Cowboys 58-53 in UIL District 5-2A high school boys’ basketball action on January 5.
Both teams played a fast paced, physical game with opportunistic defense. The Eagles found themselves in the foul bonus in the second, and more importantly, the fourth quarter while the Cowboys were only in the bonus for about one minute in the second.
The Eagles scored first blood with a basket from Brennan Bearden at the 7:20 mark.
The Cowboys answered with two free throws from Gavin Broome followed by a trey for a 5-2 Plains lead.
Darren Kizer cut the Plains lead to 5-4 with a basket at the 3:40 mark, then Cutter Stumbo hit the first of four treys in the game for a 7-5 Ropes lead with three minutes left in the first quarter.
Broome hit another basket at the one-minute mark to tie the score at seven each, but Bearden hit a trey at the buzzer for a 10-7 Ropes lead.
Stumbo hit another three-point basket 30 seconds into the second quarter followed by a basket from Kizer and another from Stumbo to put the Eagles up 17-7 just two minutes into the period.
The Cowboys scored a basket from Broome and a free throw from Gallegos, cutting the Ropes lead to 17-10 with 4:54 left in the half.
A basket from Kade Franklin made the score 19-10 for the Eagles, but Cowboy Tyler Vargas answered with a trey just 30 seconds later.
Kade Franklin hit another basket and Vargas answered with another three-point shot for a 21-16 Ropes lead with 3:20 left in the half.
Kade Franklin hit another basket at the 2:52 mark for a 2316 Ropes lead.
Plains’ Fermin Luna and Ropes’ Branson Simental traded baskets for a 25-18 score with a minute left in the half.
Gallegos hit a basket at the 15 second mark and Kade Franklin answered with a trey at the buzzer for a 28-20 Ropes lead going into halftime.
The Cowboys worked their way back in the third quarter.
Vargas opened with a threepoint shot 45 seconds into the period, but Simental answered with two free throws for the Eagles to make the score 30-23 for Ropes with a minute gone in the third quarter.
A minute later the scoring situation reversed. Plains’ Broome hit a basket answered with a trey from Bode Franklin to make the score 33-25 with 5:28 left in the period.
Another basket from Broome at the 4:19 mark cut the Ropes lead to 33-27 and a trey from Broome cut the Ropes lead to 3330 at the 2:50 mark.
A free throw from Gallagos cut the Ropes lead to 33-31 with 2:32 left in the period.
Ropes’ Kizer hit a basket at the two-minute mark to make the Eagles’ lead 35-31, but a basket a minute later from Plains’ Broome cut the lead to 35-33.
Ropes’ Stumbo and Plains’ Broome traded treys over the last minute of the third period.
Kade Franklin hit a basket with five seconds left in the quarter for a 40-36 Ropes lead at the end of three periods.
The fourth quarter started with another three-point shot from Stumbo just seconds into the period, followed by two free throws from Kizer at the sevenminute mark for a 45-36 Ropes lead.
Kizer hit a basket 30 seconds later to extend the Ropes lead to 47-36.
A three-point shot from Vargas cut the Eagles’ lead to 47-39.
Just a few seconds later, the Eagles got their fifth team foul, putting them in the bonus and allowing the Cowboys two free throws for each foul.
Another Eagle foul just seconds later with the Cowboys hitting 2-for-4 on the resulting free throws cut the Ropes lead to 47-41.
Eagle Reese Williams and Cowboy Gallegos traded baskets over the next 30 seconds with another free throw from Gallegos for a 49-44 score at the 4:53 mark.
Gallegos scored at the 4:21 mark to cut the Eagles’ led to 4946.
Two free throws from Williams extended the Ropes lead to 51-46 at the 3:07 mark.
A putback from Gallegos cut the lead again, this time to 51-48, at the 2:33 mark.
Plains’ Braylon Ward cut the Ropes lead to 51-50 at the 2:04 mark, then Vargas gave the Cowboys a 52-51 lead 30 seconds later on two free throws.
Luna made the Plains lead 5451 on two free throws at the oneminute mark and Ward extended the Cowboys’ lead to 56-51 with 36 seconds left on two more free throws.
Bearden scored the last basket of the game with just 21 seconds left. The last two Cowboy scores came on a combined 2-for-4 performance by Luna and Broome at the free throw line.
The Eagles will host Sundown this Friday at 7:30 p.m.