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The second half of the basketball season will probably be an adventurous route for most teams due to Covid. The schools have been having to deal with it for most, if not all their season to date. We can expect the numbers to only go up for the next two months and cause much havoc in the schedules.
When the Dripping Springs Tigers basketball team played the Hays Lehman Lobos in the Tiger gym, Head Coach Craig Swannack was out, and his assistant, Thomas Acker, had to take over for the game. On the other side, the Lobos head coach was the only Lehman coach in attendance, and he had to coach all three level games. It did not appear either team was missing many players, at least on varsity.
The Tiger-Lobo game was played on December 31. Both teams have had disappointing seasons to date, and no doubt each team had the resolution to win the game to get 2022 off on a winning note. Twelve would contribute points as the Tigers controlled the game with a 55-26 victory. This would give the Tigers their first district win against three losses. They are 5-12 on the season.
Thanks to an abundance of under the basket shots, the Tigers thrived throughout the game. Good passing allowed open threes as well. Both teams were getting acclimated early as the Tigers hit an early basket for the 2-0 lead but the Lobos hit a three to go ahead for the only time in the game. They would tie it at four but Jack Williams zipped a three and the Tigers would not look back. It was 13-7 after one. Maddox Bloomgren and Josh Oliphant had multiple baskets to enlarge the lead to 30-12 at the half.
The pace picked up in the second half with Layne Herington hitting a pair of threes and Dylan Ducharme adding two baskets. The Tigers scored another 17 to expand their lead to 47- 20 after three. The fourth allowed a few more players to get varsity playing time. Kooper Brown would score five and newest addition, sophomore Luca Picucci, the “Micah Parsons” of the Tiger football team, calmly dropped in a three. Dripping Springs has always encouraged athletes to play all the sports they desire to and the basketball squad has five members that played on the varsity football team.
The Tigers hit 16-27 from two, 7-17 from three and 2-4 at the line. They had only ten turnovers, but five came in the final stanza. Scoring for the Tigers were Ducharme 10, Herington 9, Bloomgren 9, Brown 5, Oliphant 5, Greyson Jones 3, Picucci 3, Williams 3, Luke Spozio 2, Jaxon Reagan 2, Davis Budge 2, Cade Brunson 2.
The district standings shows what an uphill battle the Tigers are looking at: Johnson 4-0, Boerne Champion 3-1, Alamo Heights 3-1, Kerrville Tivy 3-1, Veterans Memorial 3-2, NB Canyon 2-2, DS 1-3, Seguin 0-4, Lehman 0-5. Beginning Friday, the boys will play four home games in a row.
