Charitable Donations

The Copperas Cove Bulldawgs nearly missed more free throws in their 72-66 loss to Lake Travis on Monday than they shot in the entire game of their 51-50 win over Cedar Park a few days prior.

 

The Dawgs missed 14 of their 35 free throw attempts in a five-point loss to the Lake Travis Cavaliers at Bulldawg Stadium in a mid-afternoon contest. The Cavaliers were 27 of 40 (67.5 percent) from the charity stripe, including 15 of 18 (83.5 percent) in the third quarter. Several of those trips to the stripe came on second-chance opportunities by the Cavs’ offense.

 

“We just came out really flat today and we didn’t get a lot of the rebounds we have been getting this year,” said Cove head basketball coach Billy White Jr. “We just didn’t do a good enough job on that one and the free throws killed us. The last game we shot 15 for 15 from the line and this game we probably missed at least 15. You lose in a five-point ball game and there you go.”

 

The Cavaliers came out with a ton of energy, especially on the defensive side, and employed a full-court press early that seemed to get the Dawgs out of their normal rhythm as they committed 16 turnovers in the contest. 

 

White credits most of the urnovers to his players fumbling the ball away rather than the pressure taking it away.

 

“Our guards can handle the basketball and handle that pressure but for some reason we were fumbling and mishandling the ball a whole lot tonight,” he said. “I don’t necessarily think it had to do with their pressure. The past couple of games, we’ve just had an issue of handling the ball and that’s one of those deals we have to sure up.”

 

The Dawgs had several opportunities to get back in the contest.

 

They knotted the game at 63-all with a three-point play by Robinson. They had another chance after the Cavs’ missed two of four free throws on back-to-back charity stripe visits. A missed point-blank shot by senior Malyk Thomas that would have tied the game at 65-all with 25 seconds remaining, paired with a foul called on the other end, allowed the Cavaliers to close out the game from the charity stripe. After senior Hunter Kent drained both to push their lead to four with 15.7 seconds left, the Dawgs were forced to continue fouling and Lake Travis continued making with 6 of 6 free throws to close the contest.

 

Cove managed to cut the lead back to three twice in the waning seconds with a free throw by senior Devante Robinson and a bucket by Thomas but the sharp-shooting from the line held off the Dawgs’ charge.

 

After dropping the first quarter 19-15, the Dawgs rallied behind junior sparkplug Dahmir Pearson to outscore Lake Travis 20-18 in the second period to cut the Cavs’ lead to two, 37-35 at the break.

 

The Cavs pushed their lead to six to start the second period but six points by Pearson on three trips down court, capped by a three-pointer, pulled Cove back within three.

 

The Cavs again pushed their lead to six and Pearson again led a charge that cut that lead to two by the buzzer. Pearson scored seven of Cove’s 10 points in that stretch. Pearson scored 14 of his 19 points in the quarter.

 

“(Pearson’s) role has changed incredibly,” said White. “He always plays with a lot of energy and is very intense. He definitely has the ability to get to the basket. He knocked a couple threes down for us today. He’s a spark for us. We did go on a slight run there and he was one of the main factors of it.”

 

Two missed free throws on the Dawgs’ end of the court and a trey by Kent on the Cavs’ end helped Lake Travis to their largest lead of the game, 46-39, but a 5-0 run allowed the Dawgs back in striking distance, 46-45 with 2:40 left in the third.

 

A free throw by Thomas, a traditional three-point play by sophomore Justus Honea, and a drive to the hole by sophomore Jyhlil Rice accounted for the Cove scoring.

 

Lake Travis snatched momentum back with an uncontested layup by freshman DJ Thorpe and a swish from the elbow by Kent helped the Cavs finish the frame on an 8-4 run.

 

Kent had a game-high 23 points to lead the Cavs and senior Jeff Wetter chipped in 10 points and 10 boards.

 

Thomas led the Dawgs’ scoring with 21 points and five rebounds followed by Pearson’s 19 and Robinson’s 10 points.

 

Robinson nearly notched a double-double with a game-high eight assists.

 

White knows Robinson will need to continue facilitating if the Dawgs are to contend in the highly-competitive District 12-6A.

 

“That’s very important because there are going to be times we play teams that are going to key strictly on him so he’s going to have to do those types of things and I think he’s been doing a great job running our offense and getting us were we need to be,” said White. “He didn’t have a great offensive night but he played solid across the board and I’m proud of him for that. Normally when you get kids in those scenarios they’re forcing bad shots and he didn’t do that tonight.”

 

Cove returned to action with a road game at Pflugerville on Tuesday (results to be in Tuesday’s Cove Leader-Press due to an early holiday deadline) and will close out their road trip with a game at Austin Westlake on Tuesday and the Austin Bowie Tournament next weekend. The Dawgs return home with the international showcase against the Australian team Horizon Crocs on Monday, Dec. 7.

 

Coach White wants to eliminate those key mistakes in this stretch as District 12-6A action rapidly approaches with the opener at Ellison on Dec. 18.

 

“We can’t have those three issues,” said White. We can’t come out flat, not rebound or miss free throws. I told them, ‘we may have other games that we drop but it can’t drop it because of those three things.’ There are going to be nights where the ball doesn’t go in the whole. There was that shot by Malyk right there at the end that would have tied it up, but those things are going to happen.”