“First thing I told them in the locker room was you don’t think starting the game 0 for 7 from the free-throw line makes a difference,” Carrabine said. “It just killed us. Missed free throws at the beginning are just as important as at the end.”
Rudder (6-14) led 12-6 at the end of the first quarter, but the lead could have been more. And after a poor-shooting second quarter in which the Rangers’ only two baskets came from Justin Headge, the Rangers trailed 24-19.
Despite the shooting woes, the Rangers had an opportunity to tie the game in the waning seconds. Rudder’s Grayson Adams made the first of two free throws to cut Rouse’s lead to 56-53 with 14.5 seconds remaining, then teammate Jeremiah Johnson rebounded his miss on the second free throw.
But the Rangers couldn’t get a clean look at a 3-pointer to tie the game before time ran out.
“We always talk about driving and when help comes find the open man,” Carrabine said. “I thought [Johnson] had a 3 when we got the rebound in the corner. We talk about it all the time about where we dribble-force help, and that is what we should have been looking for. Instead we basically dribbled out the clock.”
Rudder had one remaining timeout, but Carrabine said he elected not to use it because he didn’t want to give Rouse (9-15) an opportunity to set up its defense.
Rouse took a 49-43 lead with 1:57 remaining on two free throws by Mekai Coleman. Rudder freshman Kentun King then drained a 3-pointer off a pass from Adams to cut the lead in half.
From there the teams traded points. Rudder’s Headge scored in the paint on a feed from Johnson, who made two free throws then set up Adams for a drive and layup.
Meanwhile, the Raiders, and specifically Bryce Jefferson, were sinking free throws.
Jefferson scored 12 of his game-high 23 points in the final quarter. He also had the final three points of the third quarter, which finished with Rudder leading 36-35 after having trailed 32-21.
“I was proud of them being down by 11 and we came back in the third quarter,” Carrabine said. “I was proud of our effort there, and I think the biggest thing of all that was our energy was up. We were getting loose balls. We were forcing the action and all those types of things.”
It also helped that Carlos Moreno was making shots. He scored 11 points in the quarter on various types of shots to draw the Rangers even at 32.
Moreno, who finished with a team-high 18 points, opened Rudder’s rally with an off-balance shot, then drove past two defenders for a layup, made two free throws, hit a long 3-pointer and finally finished a fastbreak with a layup.
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Headge finished with 10 points and King, Cori Carter and Adams each had six for the Rangers, who open district play Friday at Katy Paetow.
While the Rangers lost Tuesday, their level of play followed a trend of recent improvement which includes their most successful weekend of the season as they reached the championship game of the Madisonville tournament. Rudder beat Teague 70-33, Shepherd 60-44 and Hempstead 52-43 in the tournament before falling to Galveston Ball 61-53 in overtime Saturday in the title game.
“I know 6-14 is not all that exciting to the naked eye, but from where we started we’ve made progress,” said Carrabine, who doesn’t have a returner on the roster. “I’m happy that we’ve competed for starters, found out what we can do. People have settled or found their niche or roles, which really helps.”
•
NOTES — Rudder won the JV game 38-36 and the freshman A game 51-42 on Tuesday. Leander Rouse won the freshman B game 50-41.
Leander Rouse 56, Rudder 53
(Numbers after names indicate field goals made, free throws made-attempted, points.)
ROUSE (9-15) — Bryce Jefferson 6 7-9 23; Latrell Goppy 4 5-9 13; Mekai Coleman 3 3-4 11; Barrington Bryant 1 0-2 2; Caeden Kieper 1 0-0 2; Colton Hesser 1 0-0 2; EJ Monroe 0 0-0 0; Thomas Oates 1 3-4 5. TOTALS: 17 18-28 56
RUDDER (6-14) — Kentun King 2 0-2 6; Cori Carter 2 0-... Click here to read full article
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