On Tuesday, the Tigers got back in the swing of things with a 55-44 win over Snook at the RHS Gymnasium.
The score was close for much of the game with Rockdale leading by one at the close of the first and leading 24-22 at halftime.
The Blue-and-Gold extended their lead slightly in the third before putting away the Blue Jays in the final quarter to win the game by 11.
Mekhi Crawford led RHS with 16 and Christian Briggs scored a season high of 10.
The win comes after a 1-4 stint at the Center-ville Tournament this past weekend.
“The record wasn’t as good as we hoped,” said Marcus McNeil, RHS head basketball coach. “But we had some suspensions that we had to take care of in order to establish our program, so we fell short in terms of depth.
“I’m trying to establish how we’re going to do things here and it’s the kids responsibility to do what they’re supposed to do and help the team.”
Despite the setbacks, McNeil is positive about the future.
“Overall, I’m very hopeful for the season and I see a lot of things we’re doing well,” he sad. “But we still have a lot of cleaning up to do.
“On an individual level we certainly have a lot of talent but we haven’t gelled as much as we should by now. But moving forward, we’re working hard and it seems like the kids are moving in the right direction.”
First, they fell to a 7-4 Normangee team 68-56 before losing to a Rosebud-Lott team 75-63 on Thursday that beat them 79-58 two days prior.
Against Anderson-Shiro the next day, they began to see progress.
The Owls took an early lead in the first and led 34-21 over the Tigers at halftime.
In the third, Rockdale closed the gap, outscoring Shiro 13-6 to bring the game within two possessions at the close of the third.
RHS inched closer in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough as the Tigers fell 56-52.
They ended the day on a high note, taking down Lufkin’s Pinewood Christian Academy 71-61.
Rockdale built an early 22-9 lead and held on for the remainder of the game.
On Saturday, the Tigers faced Normangee for the second time in three days falling to the Panthers 60-36.
THIS WEEK–On Friday, the Tigers play host to Elgin at the RHS Gym.
Gametime is at 3:15 p.m.
Rockdale returns to playing games after a 10-day break when they travel to Schulenburg for a tournament Dec. 30-31.
The Tigers start district play the following Friday on Jan. 3, in McGregor.
JUNIOR VARSITY– On Tuesday evening, the RHS junior varsity defeated Snook 40-35.
Ryan Blair led with 16 and Jake Hasselbach had six.
The Rockdale freshmen team also won defeating the Thrall ninth grade squad 58-37.
Braden Thomas scored a season high of 29 and Chris Perez had 11.
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