Tigers Take Down NZ Bulldogs
Latexo 65, North Zulch 61
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
LATEXO – The Latexo Tigers are quietly becoming a team to watch as the district season approaches. The Tigers won their second game in a row on Tuesday night as they held off a determined North Zulch Bulldogs team by a final score of 65-61.
Latexo fell behind in the game’s opening minutes, rallied in the second quarter and then held off a furious comeback attempt by North Zulch to pull out the four-point win.
As the game got underway, North Zulch’s Emory Broussard started out on fire. He knocked down three, three-pointers, a two and was two-of-two from the line for 13 points in the first eight minutes of play. Ali Sunny also canned a three as the Bulldogs led by a score of 16-14 after one.
The Tigers saw both Eli Filer and Malachi Reece knock down five apiece in the opening period while Tyler Lumbreraz added three and Logan Ray was one of two from the charity stripe.
In the second quarter, the Latexo offense went on the attack, erased the deficit and executed well enough to take a 33-27 lead into the locker room at halftime. Lumbreraz had seven. Sam Jones broke into the scoring column with four and was joined by Reece who also netted four. In addition, Filer and Ray both had two.
The Tigers’ managed to find an answer to Broussard in the second period and held him to four. Dylan Drake stepped up for North Zulch and dropped in six to keep the Bulldogs within shouting distance while Haseeb Sattar chipped in a free throw to close out the North Zulch first half scoring.
Following the break, the Bulldogs began to chip away at the Latexo lead. Sunny got hot for North Zulch and poured in nine. Broussard added another four to his total, Gage O’Neal had two and Sattar made one-of-two from the line to bring the Bulldogs within two points of the lead with eight minutes to play.
Latexo struggled from the field after halftime but did just enough to take a 45-43 lead into the fourth quarter. Ray led the Tigers’ third quarter scoring attack with five while Jones drained a three-pointer. Lumbreraz and Jack Crow accounted for the other four points in the period.
The fourth quarter saw the two squads battling back-and-forth. The Bulldogs shot themselves in the foot, however, when they began to play hack-a-Tiger in an effort to stay close. Latexo went to the line 16 times in the final eight minutes and made 11 to help seal the 65-61 win.
Ray paced Latexo in the fourth with nine points. Jones added five, Reece was three of four from the line, Filer dropped in two and Lumbreraz added one to account for the Tigers’ scoring.in the game’s final eight minutes.
O’Neal led the Bulldogs in the fourth with six points. Broussard had four, both Drake and Sunny added three apiece and Sattar had a basket to round out the North Zulch scoring.
On the game, the Bulldogs were led by Emory Broussard with a game-high 25 points. Ali Sunny netted 15, Dylan Drake had nine, Gage O’Neal went for eight and Haseeb Sattar closed out the North Zulch point production with four.
Logan Ray led the Tigers’ offensive attack with a team-high 17 points while Tyler Lumbreraz had 13. Both Sam Jones and Malachi Reece were in double digits with 12 apiece. Eli Filer dropped in nine points and Jack Crow hit a bucket to close out the Latexo scoring.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
