Going up against Little River-Academy, a team that entered Friday night’s matchup at the RHS Gymnasium with a District 19-3A record of 6-1 and were once stateranked during pre-district play, the Tigers held their own as scoring from freshman De’Andre Stephens put Rockdale in a position to get their first district win. However, the Bumblebees began to swarm the basket with an 8-2 run to open the third. As the Tigers struggled with shooting until midway through the fourth, they couldn’t erase the deficit and fell, 58-43.
For first-year coach Sean Lexima, a double-digit wasn’t a true indicator of the game played in Milam County that evening.
“We’re still building,” Lexima said. “And Academy shot the fire out of the ball, to be honest.”
“But we still closed out. We contested very well and I think we played great defense. They shot the fire out of the ball and that happens sometimes,” he added. “What did we lose by, 15 points? That’s not really a good depiction of what the game was.” GAME— Although sharpshooting Academy opened up the first quarter by making four three-pointers, the Tigers stayed on par with the Bumblebees. Shots from Devon Hicks, Chris Perez and Erik Sheppard made it 18-11 at the end of the first.
Starting the second quarter, RHS gained steam with a 5-0 run to cut Academy’s lead to 18-16.
Even though they trailed 26-22 at halftime, 10 points from Stephens in the secondput RHS in a position to beat an Academy team just two years removed from a state tournament. In that same year, the Blue-and-Gold lost to AHS by a combined total of 180-82 in their two district games.
Similar to the first half, Academy also started the second half on fire, quickly going up 34-24. Rockdale was able to score a little more in the third, with another basket from Stephens and a three from David Penny, but so did the Bees, who led 40-28 when the quarter concluded.
Mid-way through the fourth, RHS had a small run as Perez hit a three and Stephens broke away for a layup to make it 45-38 with a little more than four minutes left to play. Following that second shot, Academy’s Cooper Shackleford sank a three right away to put them up 48-38 with 3:56 left to play. AHS controlled the game for the remainder of the fourth, winning 58-43. Stephens led the way for the Tigers with 19 points, while senior Robert Owens scored 13.
After the game, Lexima also gave his own team credit for how much heart his players have, especially for a team that has yet to get a district win.
“It’s not easy being from Rockdale,” he said. “Our kids play with a chip on their shoulder and I think every team has their toughest game against us.” LAST WEEK— Three days before, the Tigers fell to rival Cameron on the road, 71-46.
Prior to the varsity game, the Blue-and-Gold junior varsity left Yoe High with a 63-20 win, led by 27 points from Bryson O’Bryant.
THIS WEEK— RHS opened up their second half of district play on Tuesday, traveling to Lexington to face an Eagle team they fell to 64-62 on Dec. 16. They return home on Friday to host McGregor. The Bulldogs took down the Tigers 70-54 earlier this month and currently sit in third place with a district record of 4-3. Their losses have been to stateranked Lorena (57-52), Academy (64-54) and Rogers (60-- 49).
Tip-off against McGregor is at 7:30 p.m.
L ADY T IGERS — Although they had trouble against Academy Friday night, losing 57-18 to the Lady Bees, the Lady Tigers took down Cameron last Tuesday, defeating the Lady Yoe, 43-34.
Ciara Miles was the team’s top scorer with 18 points and also racked up eight rebounds and seven steals. Saige Robertson was also a main contributor with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.
This was the second time that Rockdale has defeated Cameron this season after beating the Lady Yoe, 66-41, on Dec. 13.
THIS WEEK— Like the boys, the Lady Tigers travel to Lexington on Tuesday and host McGregor Friday.
RHS beat the Lady Bulldogs 44-40 on Jan. 3 in a game where freshman Trinity Hurd led the team with 14 points.
Game time is scheduled for 6:15 p.m.
PLAYOFFS— As of press time, the Lady Tigers sit outside the playoff bubble in fifth place with a record of 4-5. Fourth place Rogers is also 4-5 but a 54-32 victory over Rockdale on Jan. 13 puts the other RHS ahead in the standings.
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