KATY — The La Grange High School boys basket- ball team put up a good fight against Yates High School Feb. 20 at Katy High School, but were defeated by a final score of 78-62. The Lions quick offense and pressure on defense gave them the slight edge, but La Grange was able to hang tough with scoring from their premier players. "I was just contemplating whether or not are we gonna be able to get into our offenses,” said La Grange head boys basketball coach David Cooper.
"We never did. We never really got into offenses. We scored enough points to normally win, but not against those guys. They just kick you out of what you normally do. We showed some great resiliency, courage, and guts to weather the storm, get back in it, and start playing a little bit of basketball and get some confidence. You look up and we’re down by four, so just real proud of that.”
Yates took a 13-0 lead in the first quarter, which includ ed a few three pointers and a jump shot from sophomore point guard Jalen Carswell. La Grange then made it a 16-11 ball game on a couple shots from junior forward Nathan Scott to go along with a layup and another made basket. Yates went on to control the quarter with lay ups, free throws, and an and one basket to go ahead 28-17 at the end of the first quarter.
La Grange was able to hold their own in the second quarter with huge contributions from Scott and senior forward Jaxon Cooper to cut the deficit to 37-32 going into halftime.
Cooper then put on an enormous third quarter with a couple jumoers, free throws, and layups to try and match the Lions scoring ability in all aspects for a 57-47 lead for the Yates at the end of the period.
La Grange was able to keep the game within nine points in the fourth quarter as Cooper maintained his dominance and gritty performance with tough layups and a jump shot to put it at 61-52, then Yates athleticism took over from beyond the arc and at the charity stripe to keep their edge and roll to a 78-62 victory.
