Hays Rebels boys basketball

Posted January 19, 2008, 2 a.m.

Hays Rebels boys still learning the fast life

Web www.hayshighway.com

By Bill Peterson
Hays Highway Editor

BUDA – Whether or not the Hays High School boys basketball team makes the playoffs, Year One of Doug Agnew's run-and-gun style has injected more fun and hope into this operation than it's seen since the last playoff appearance in 2000.

Players enjoy the frenetic pace, everyone gets involved and the game surges dramatically to and fro.

But the players haven't yet internalized the best aspect of the racehorse game, and that's what has Agnew concerned as the Rebels enter the second half of their District 26-4A season.

Playing with a deliberate style, it's disastrous to fall behind by 10 points. Playing the frenetic style, it's not unusual to come back from a 15-point deficit. It's part of the game, which is built on runs
due to increased turnovers and fast-break shots. Teams playing the fast pace are going to give and take their 10-, 12-, and 14-point runs. They're as common as rain. The key is to take the shot and give it back.

Almost invariably, though, an opponent will put up a run that the Rebels just can't absorb. On Jan. 8, Del Valle put them away, 78-56, after a 17-0 run in the second half. On Jan. 11, Schertz Clemens bolted out to an 18-0 lead and the Rebels couldn't climb back into their 91-58 loss.

Friday night, after the Rebels and Cibolo Steele traded first-half runs almost evenly, Steele scored the first 11 points of the second half and the Rebels never returned to within six points of tying the game.

"Hopefully, we're getting to the stage where we know that's going to happen," Agnew said about the big run. "We have to get that confidence that we can answer."

Perhaps, that’s the final stage of learning the rapid style. And it might take a magical comeback some night to make it happen.

But it's going to have to happen quickly if the Rebels are to rally into the playoff picture. Steele's 80-72 win dropped the Rebels to 2-5 in the district and 11-14 overall. The playoffs have almost slipped away, though not quite.

Steele, Del Valle and New Braunfels Canyon entered Friday's games in a second-place tie with two losses each. Clemens started the night in first place, 6-0. From sixth place, the Rebels would have to climb past three teams in their final seven games to make the playoffs.

Agnew believes nine wins in the district is the magic number for the third-place playoff berth, while eight wins could force a tie. To reach nine wins, the Rebels would have to win their remaining seven games.

After five straight losses, the Rebels will be happy to play the two league teams they have beaten, Lockhart and Lehman, in the next week. If they can win those games again, the Rebels could look up a week from now and find themselves in contention.

"It's getting to crunch time," Agnew said. "We've dug a hole for ourselves and now we have to see if we can get out."

The Rebels started Friday night's game with an 8-1 run in their favor, but Steele scored the next 14 points for a 15-8 lead. Hays rallied to tie the game, 15-15, early in the second quarter, then took a 25-24 lead on a jumper by Patrick Pena with 3:04 left in the half. But Steele scored the next eight points and held a 38-35 lead at intermission.

The game got away from Hays after Steele scored the first 11 points of the second half, increasing its lead to 49-35 before the Rebels finally scored 4:36 into the third quarter. That was the run Hays couldn't answer, perhaps because of the way Hays didn't score. The Rebels put up only three shots during that stretch, killing themselves with turnovers.

"It's always the same thing that gets to us," Agnew said. "We were just giving the ball away."

Down as much as 57-41, the Rebels glimpsed hope by scoring 11 of the next 13 points. Five different Hays players scored during the run, which ended when Michael Kauffmann's free throws brought them within 59-52 at the start of the fourth quarter.

Though the Rebels started taking better care of the ball, Steele tripped down the floor easily and blew its lead back out to 74-58. Hays rallied again, coming within 75-69 with just less than two minutes left on a three-pointer by Taylor Iberg. Hays forced a turnover on Steele's next possession, but couldn't turn it into points and the visitors put it away at the free-throw line.

Iberg led the Rebels with 11 points, followed by 10 for Kauffmann. Steele's Anthony Foster led all scorers with 22 points, with teammate Tyree Prince throwing in 16.