ALTAIR — The Rice High School boy’s basketball team prevailed in a nail-biter Jan. 17 at Raiders Gym by defeating Yoakum High School with a final score of 55-52 in overtime. Yoakum had a big lead for most of the game until Rice settled in and made shots when needed.
"Trust," said Rice head boy's basketball coach John Hunter on how is team was able to pull out the victory.
"Defense and trust. That's it. They throw up a lot of shots, but they went in on the defensive end.”
Rice guard D'Neriyan Fuller hit the game-tying three to send it into overtime as the buzzer sounded on a deep shot from the wing. "We came out flat," Fuller said. “I told them in the locker room at halftime that we got them. We just got to work harder than them. That’s what we did.”
The two squads went back and forth early in the first quarter, then Yoakum put in a layup and a three pointer in the final minute to take a 15-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Bulldogs kept their offensive flow going in the second quarter with threestraight baskets on a turn around jumper and two layups to go ahead 21-9, forcing Rice to call a timeout. Yoakum kept a similar advantage throughout the quarter as Raiders guard Daniel Zepeda kept his team in the game with a bunch of layups, including a steal and layup at the 46 second mark to keep things at 34-21 in favor of Yoakum going into halftime.
Rice was able to cut the lead into single digits in the third quarter with more heavy work from Zepeda on free throws and layups, along with controlling the floor on offense. Zepeda hit another free throw with seven seconds to play, resulting in a 4334 Yoakum lead at the end of the third quarter.
Both teams traded baskets for most of the fourth, then Rice guard Warren Scott Jr. hit a huge three pointer with 1:49 to go in order to make it a 48-45 ball game. As the Raiders struggled to make shots in the final minute, Fuller's must-have three at the buzzer on a deep launch from the wing tied the game at 48 and sent Rice into overtime.
Yoakum hit a jumper at the 2:40 mark for the first points of overtime before Rice's Zepeda answered with two big free throws to put it at 50 each. The Raiders made another layup that was responded by an and one basket from Yoakum, but the free throw was missed to keep the game at 52-52. Zepeda then iced the game for the Raiders on a clutch floater at the one minute mark, which was followed by another free throw of his to eventually win the game 55-52 as Rice was able to hold their own on defense when it mattered most.
