SAN ANTONIO – It didn’t seem like Pleasanton was going to miss a shot, at least in the first quarter of Tuesday’s third-round playoff game against Boerne High at Paul Taylor Field House.
The Eagles hit four 3s, went 4 for 6 at the line and added three 2-point buckets and were up 22-10 by the end of the quarter.
But Pleasanton struggled from there and only scored 18 points the rest of the way, while the Greyhounds’ steady pace won the race.
The Hounds scored 10, 10, 15 and 8 and went on to defeat the Eagles, 43-40.
Boerne (30-6) advances to the fourth round for the third straight year. They’ll face Kingsville King in the regional semis Friday in Kingsville, 6 p.m. Friday’s winner plays the winner of Somerset and Corpus Christi Miller Saturday in the finals, 3 p.m.
Before Tuesday’s game, BHS coach Kimble McHone told his team that Pleasanton liked to shoot from way outside. He said once his team guarded the Eagles shooters deep it changed the game.
“I think we weren’t doing what we were supposed to do in the first quarter and then we started doing it. We didn’t change anything,” he said. “I don’t think the team believed me that they could shoot it that deep and make them. Then they kind of woke up and said, ‘coach is right, let’s step out there on them.’ We held them down the last three quarters.”
Pleasanton slowed down right away, in fact, they only scored 2 points in the second and didn’t hit a bucket the entire period. Both points in the second came at the free-throw line.
BHS senior Devin Styles said nobody panicked when Pleasanton went up by double digits.
“They got hot at the beginning, but for us, we knew we had to stick to the game plan and that’s what we did and it worked,” he said. “It’s tough to score on our defense and in order to beat us you’re going to have to shoot like they did in the first quarter, the whole game basically.”
BHS won the second 10-2 and was within four points by the break at 24-20.
Styles basically took over in the second half. The senior finished with 9 in the third as the Hounds won the quarter, 15-12, and were only down by a point as the game went to the fourth, 36-35.
Pleasanton scored the first three points of the final period and pulled ahead, 39-35, but Styles scored four straight and it was tied at 39-39.
After the Eagles hit a free throw for the 40-39 edge, Styles dropped in a 2-pointer with 2:05 left and Boerne had its first lead since they went up 2-0 to start the game.
That Pleasanton free throw with 2:36 on the clock would be their final point of the game – and as it turned out – their final of the season. The Eagles missed their last four shots of the game.
Styles added another bucket with 30 ticks on the clock and Boerne pulled ahead 43-40 and that’s where it stayed.
BHS scored 23 second-half points and Styles had 17 of them, including all 8 of Boerne’s points in the fourth quarter. Barrett Pape had 4 and Houston Hendrix added 2 in the second half, the rest came from Styles.
“Devin Styles is a beast, any time we could get the ball down to him I felt good about it,” Coach McHone said. “They were double and triple teaming him all night long.”
Styles finished with 25 points, Pape added 8, Hendrix had 6 and Koen Wolff chipped in with 4 as only four Hounds scored in the game.
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