Waelder blows fourth-quarter lead

AUSTIN — The Waelder Wildcats were eight minutes away from reaching the Region IV-1A finals. But as head coach Brandon Howard alluded to in earlier games this season, the team needed to play all four quarters to get these late-season wins.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be as the Wildcats lost to Laneville 62-53 after blowing a 12-point, fourth-quarter lead.

“They scored 37 points in the fourth quarter,” Howard said after the game, “there was no such thing as defense on our end.”

The fourth quarter was a much different quarter than the first three. Waelder ended the first quarter up 7-0, with every possession taking out a chunk of the clock. The Wildcats found their way into Laneville’s 2-3 zone.

The second quarter saw more of the same as points came in from senior captain Tracy Moore, Josh Jones-Miller and Carlos Reyes. Waelder would end the second quarter up 19-10.

Coming out the half, Laneville switched to a 1-3-1 defense, though the Wildcats still found their ways to score, as Isaiah Ewing got a bucket as well as Moore, Reyes and Alex Ontiveros. Waelder finished out the third quarter up 35-25.

Then the fourth quarter came, and the Wildcats would send Laneville to the free-throw line too many times.

“We stopped playing defense and stopped moving our feet and fouled them,” Howard said. “I don’t think it was fatigue, we just got comfortable and stopped playing like we were playing the first three quarters.”

Laneville combined for 18-of-22 from the free-throw line in their 37-point quarter. They outscored Waelder 37-18 to advance to the regional final with the nine-point win.

Moore finished the night with a team-leading 19 points. Justin Schilhab was right behind with 12. Other scorers include Carlos Reyes with six points, Colby Thorne and Isaiah Ewing with four each, Alex Reyna and Josh Jones-Miller with three points each and Alex Ontiveros with two points.