W ith only seven players on their roster, the Tigers fell ::-5 to rival Cameron at the RHS Gymnasium on Tuesday evening.
“W e have to be more aware in transition,” said RHS coach Marcus McNeil. “But the bottom line is that we have to be more consistent.”
Rockdale started off the game strong with a 12- lead more than halfway through the first, but the oemen went on a 10-5 run for the remainder of the q uarter to tie the game at 17.
Cameron got really hot early in the second, going up 40-24 with four minutes left in the half.
However, RHS cut the lead in half with three-bombs from both J.J. Moreno and Ryan Blair.
Ross Loth also had a two, making the game 40-32 at halftime.
Cameron added to their lead in the third and put away the Tigers for good in the final quarter, winning ::-5 .
Loth led the Tigers with 1 and Blair had 11.
Blair has played for the junior varsity for most of district play but was moved up after guards Kobe Mitchell, Mekhi Crawford and Amarion Butler were removed from the team earlier this season.
That same group of seven Tigers tested Franklin, the 25th-ranked team in Class 3A, four days before for much of their meeting in the RH gym Friday.
“I think it speaks to our potential,” McNeil said when q uestioned about his teams effort against the Lions.
Although FHS got off to a 14-4 start, the Blue-and-Gold were able to capitalize off good defense and three’s from J.J. Moreno to cut the Lion lead to three with two minutes to go in the first-half.
Layups from Ross Loth and Christian Briggs gave the Tigers a 32-31 lead, but FH went back on top before the close of the first half with a layup in the final 20 seconds.
The game remained close in the third with Franklin leading 4:-43 at the end of the q uarter.
The Lions ran away with the game with a 15-0 run early in the fourth. The Tigers fell 65-48.
Rockdale was curtailed by leading scorer Moreno fouling out with three minutes left in the third and Jace Robinson fouling out midway through the fourth.
Three days, earlier, the Tigers were set back in the third quarter as Rogers outscored the Blue-and-Gold 23-:, handing RHS their fourth district loss, 66-49.
J.J. Moreno led the Rock with 13 and Ross Loth had 10.
THIS WEEK–The Tigers wrap up the first half of district play on Friday night in Lexington.
Like the Tigers, the Eagles are winless in district play with a 93-50 loss to Franklin, 54-26 loss to Cameron, 58-46 loss to Rogers and 50-43 to Troy.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
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