Sweetwater sweeps Snyder in 5-4A basketball doubleheader

SWEETWATER - Entering a District 5-4A game against Snyder with only nine games under its belt due to an extended football campaign, the Sweetwater boys basketball team was still showing some rust on Tuesday.

Nonetheless, the Mustangs overcame a slow start with a late third-quarter run and some clutch plays in the game’s final minute to hold off their area rivals 46-41 to complete a doubleheader sweep in the Sweetwater gym.

The Sweetwater girls opened the twin bill with 67-20 win over Snyder. But things didn’t go as smoothly in the nightcap for the boys, who were led by J.L. Solis with 15 points and Kobe Clark with 11 while improving to 4-6 overall and 1-1 in district.

Snyder (5-21, 0-2), which led 8-5 at the end of the first quarter and 22-15 at halftime, got 11 points from Trey Samaniego and nine from Cedrick Quiroz.

The Tigers peaked with 5:15 left in the third quarter when a three-point play by Logan Greene gave them a 27-17 lead. From that point forward, Snyder was treading water.

Sweetwater closed the period on a 14-4 run to knot the game at 31 and finally took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Solis with 2:05 to play.

Six third-quarter turnovers by Snyder proved crucial, as did an additional five over the final eight minutes.

“We had a couple of guys come off the bench who gave us really good energy defensively,” Sweetwater coach Chris Carruthers said. “Tristan Longoria got up on the front of the press and did a great job of pressuring the ball and creating bad passes.

“Then we had guys in the passing lanes — Jordan McGee, J.L. Solis, Kobe Clark and Kiante McCoy all did a really good job of getting in the lanes and deflecting balls. That’s when we’re best offensively, when we can get out and run.”

Solis added a couple of clutch plays down the stretch to preserve the Sweetwater win, including an offensive rebound off a missed free throw from McGee with 17 seconds remaining and the Mustangs leading 43-41.  He subsequently added two free throws of his own after being fouled.

Roughly 12 seconds later, Soliz stole a pass to end Snyder’s final chance at a comeback.

“We’ll get better from this, we’ll learn and move on,” Snyder coach Lee Scott said. “The good thing about this district is, you can be 0-2 and still get into the playoffs.”

DISTRICT 5-4A

SWEETWATER 46, SNYDER 41

SNYDER (5-21, 0-2) — Alonzo Wesley 4, Kalen Cowley 2, Trey Samaniego 11, Cedrick Quiroz 9, Nathan Kendrick 6, Logan Greene 5, Chris Dickinson 2, Barron Wesley 2.

SWEETWATER (4-6, 1-1) — Kobe Clark 11, Tristan Longoria 3, JL Solis 15, Jordan McGee 5, Kiante McCoy 10, Ky Hoover 2.

Lady Mustangs roll through Lady Tigers

Tavis Black scored 22 points and Baylie Lindsey tossed in 15 more to pace the Sweetwater girls to a lopsided win in the first varsity game of the evening.

Opening the game on a 13-2 run through the first quarter, the Lady Mustangs never trailed and were never seriously threatened. A 21-5 second quarter all but ended any hopes Snyder had of pulling off a surprise, with Lindsey scoring eight of her 15 points during that stretch.

Snyder, which was 1 for 17 from the floor in the first two quarters, ended the first half with 17 costly turnovers and finished with 28 on the night.

The Lady Tigers were led by Jordan Phillips with six points and Allegra Escobedo with four while dropping to 4-22 overall and 0-3 in league play.

“Snyder has a young team and they’re in a building process,” Sweetwater coach Rusty Rainbolt said. “They’ll get it going. They’re sort of at the point where we were last year, just trying to build something from the bottom up.”

Other top contributors for Sweetwater included Jessica Poe with 10 points and Amber Knox with nine.

DISTRICT 5-4A

SWEETWATER 67, SNYDER 20

SNYDER (4-22, 0-3) — Jordan Phillips 6, Kirsti Pierce 3, Nicole Martinez 2, Natalee James 2, Angela Murillo 2, Allegra Escobedo 4, Michelle Rios 1.

SWEETWATER (17-9, 2-1) — Jessica Poe 10, Amber Knox 9, Bri Moriel 3, Baylie Lindsey 15, Shavie Green 2, Elli Lehnert 4, Tavis Black 22, Texas Williams 2.