Hawks’ Comeback Comes Up Short, Bandera 58-CL 50
Canyon Lake lost a heartbreaker game in overtime to Bandera Bulldogs Friday night at the Hawk gym, 50-58.
“We battled our tails off,” Head Coach Lucas Chapman said. “To be down 15 points and believe we could get it done and get back in it was a great testament to this team.”
The Hawks had 25 turnovers in their last game in Fredericksburg and were on a mission to not let that happen again.
“We started taking care of the ball and our goal was to have 12 or less turnovers in this game,” Andrew “Dead Eye” Riali exclaimed.
Mission accomplished as CL finished with nine miscues in four quarters plus an overtime.
That was a key element as Canyon Lake started their comeback in the second half erasing a 15 point deficit in those last two quarters.
A 34 to 19 advantage in the second half with clutch shooting and lock down defense was a great combination for Canyon Lake as the home crowd helped pump adrenaline into this comeback.
“Coach said we had to put the first half behind us and to forget about it,” Javier Mendez quoted.
Canyon Lake defense got its shot in the arm when defensive back Mendez started jumping routes leading to several interceptions changing the momentum of this game. (A little football lingo)
“In a way, I was reading the guards who had the ball and then I just pushed it our there and went as fast as I could,” Mendez said.
Riali was a sleeping giant for much of this contest but decided to play a key contributor in this game when he made four three pointers in less than a three minute span to jump start the team.
“We were trying to find anything that would give us a spark,” Coach Chapman said with Sparklers in his hand. “He (Riali) is a streaky shooter and we got the tempo up which helped out in getting him open shots…the reason we got our offense going was our defense started to scramble and were playing hard.”
The Hawks were down, 40-29 when the fireworks started and a 45-44 in favor of CL at the 3:50 mark made this a whole different game.Canyon Lake last lead was at the 4:55 mark of the first quarter when the Hawks were leading 6-5.
A total of seven points by both teams to close out the fourth quarter would force an extra period in this epic battle.
“We were down by quite a few points and we ran a few plays that were designed to get me open,” Riali shot out. “I had to get open and after I started making them, each three I shot became a little further back each time I shot it because they started coming out and guarding me closer.”
On what happened at halftime to get CL back into this game, Riali explained, “Mental toughness and we had to play tougher than they did.”
Riali also gave a challenge when he closed, “We can beat every team we have played so far, we just have to play four quarters like we played this second half and then we can get it done.”
So Get It Done!!
1 2 3 4 OT Final Bandera 18 11 7 12 10 58 Canyon Lake 11 3 13 21 2 50
3pt Pt Rebounds Name fgm-fga ftm-fga ftm-fta Tot or-dr Tot a s b to Andrew Riali 4-10 4-10 2-2 14 2-4 6 0 2 0 0 Chandler Faulkner 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 0-1 1 0 1 0 2 Thomas McIntire 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Paul Davis 4-12 0-5 0-0 8 0-1 1 0 1 0 2 Doug Hubnik 1-7 0-0 1-2 3 1-4 5 7 4 0 0 Spencer Wellings 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Tyler Clark 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 2 1 1 0 1 Caleb Kreiger 5-21 0-3 6-10 16 8-1 9 2 1 2 2 Javier Mendez 2-3 0-0 1-3 5 2-0 2 1 2 0 2 Luke Curry 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Isaac Pruna 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 17-56 4-18 12-19 50 13-13 26 11 12 2 9 Percentages 30.4% 22.2% 63.2%
Quarter First Second Half Third Fourth Half OT Game FG 5-12 42% 1-13 8% 24% 5-13 38% 6-9 67% 48% 00% 30% 3FG 0-3 00% 0-3 00% 00% 0-1 00% 4-5 80% 67% 00% 22% FT 1-2 50% 1-2 50% 50% 3-5 60% 5-7 71% 67% 50% 63% TO 3 2 5 2 2 4 0 9