Photo courtesy of Coach Braydon Barker
The Pampa Hustlin’ Harvesters (23-12) may not have put on the offensive display fans are used to through most of Friday’s Area Championship game against Clint, but defensively, they held the far West Texas team to 37 points as they knocked off the Lions 53-37.
“We had a great first quarter defensively,” Head Coach Braydon Barker said. “We were leading 13-2 after the first quarter and 20-4 midway through the second quarter.
“I thought we got a little complacent on defense after building that big lead, but Clint also hit some shots in the second and third quarter. I was proud of the way the guys responded in the fourth quarter to stretch the lead back out to 15.”
The Harvesters led 38-32 after three, Senior Dalton Booth took the game over in the fourth quarter to put the Harvesters on a 15-5 run to close out the game and bring home the gold ball.
“Dalton really took over in the fourth quarter to lead us to the win,” Barker said. “We missed way too many layups and shots in the paint throughout the entire game for sure.”
The defense was the star of the show, however. The Harvesters had 12 rebounds, 18 deflections, 13 steals, and set up 20 points off turnovers. Not to mention holding Clint to two points in the first and five points in the fourth.
“I thought our defense overall was solid,” Barker said. “Anytime you can hold a playoff opponent under 40 points, you should have a chance to win that game. We also did a great job not fouling on defense, so they had to earn everything they got.”
The Harvesters now set their sights to Cooper-Liberty, a Top 10 team in the state, for the Regional Semifinals. Game time is 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3, at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview.
“They are a great team that has a ton of huge wins this year,” Barker said. “We are going to have to play with intensity on defense and definitely have to take care of the ball on offense. I think our guys are ready for the challenge, and it should be a great game.”
Stat Round-Up
Senior Dalton Booth had 18 points with a three, went 3-3 in free throws with two rebounds, two assists, five deflections and three steals; Senior Jose Alonzo had nine points, went 5-6 in free throws, had five rebounds, three assists, five deflections and six steals; Sophomore Talan Garcia had eight points with six rebounds, three assists, two deflections and one steal; Sophomore Aaron Martinez had six points, went 2-2 in free throws, two rebounds, two deflections, two steals and one block; Senior Parker Webb had six points, had six rebounds, two deflections and two steals; Senior Keegan Utpon had three points, went 1-2 in free throws, one rebound and one deflection; Junior Jeryn Owens had three points off a trey, had three rebounds, one assist, one deflection and one block; Senior Tristan Bagwell had one rebound.