The Pampa Hustlin’ Harvesters (19-10, 5-4) fell to the Hereford Whitefaces on a half-court buzzer-beater 58-57.
The Harvesters held a 32-22 lead at the half, but found themselves in a close game late after Hereford rallied in the third-quarter to trail 39-37 and make the game a close game in the fourth.
Head Coach Braydon Barker said there was plenty of good to take away from the game, but said the free throws is what put Pampa in a bind.
“It was probably our best offensive rebounding game of the year,” Barker said. “We really rebounded the ball well on both ends, but free throw shooting really hurt us. We were 7-20 from the free throw line so that really hurt us. We would not have even been in the position where the buzzer beater mattered if we would have shot better from the free throw line.”
Along with the rebounding, the Harvesters had 23 points off turnovers with 17 steals.
“We forced quite a few turnovers which was good,” Barker said. “Unfortunately, when Hereford got shots off, they made them.”
Seniors Dalton Booth, Jose Alonzo and Conner Hall combined for 40 points together, including a pair of threes from Hall and Alonzo. Barker said the defense Hereford attacked with opened the door for others to have shooting opportunties.
“Hereford started in a "Box and 1" on Dalton to start the game,” Barker said.”This allowed our other guards to get going. Conner came in and had a great first half and hit two early 3 pointers that really got us going.”
The Harvesters return to action Tuesday when they travel to Perryton to for their second game against the Rangers.
“Perryton is always a tough place to win,” Barker said. “We are going to have to really take care of the basketball and rebound the ball well again.”
Stat Round-Up
Senior Jose Alonzo had 16 points, two threes, went 2-4 in free throws with five rebounds, two assists, one deflection and one steal; Senior Dalton Booth had 14 points, went 2-5 in free throws, had one rebound, three assists, eight deflections and five steals; Senior Conner Hall had 10 points with two threes, one assist, one deflection and one steal; Senior Keegan Upton had four points with four rebounds and one deflection; Senior Parker Webb had four points and eight rebounds and three deflections; SophomoreTalan Garcia had three points, six rebounds, went 1-4 in free throws and had two assists, five deflections and four steals; Sophomore Aaron Martniez had three points, went 1-1 in free throws, with eight rebounds, one assist, six deflections and one steal; Senior Tristan Bafwell had two points with five rebounds, one assist, one deflection, two steals and one block; Senior Trill Young had one point with two rebounds and one steal.