Marble Falls boys basketball lose to Fredericksburg

CAPTION: Junior forward Cooper Gray’s offense gave the Mustangs a chance in a close loss to Fredericksburg. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School boys basketball team lost to Fredericksburg 41-40 Dec. 2 in non-district play.

The Mustangs (2-6) trailed 41-39 with six seconds remaining. Colby Kitchen got a hand on the ball and tipped it to junior guard Beckett Berkman. Berkman found senior guard Gregory Lemon, who forced the issue and was fouled.

He stepped to the line and made a free throw. While the outcome didn’t go the Mustangs’ way, head coach John Berkman noted his athletes executed properly.

“We did what we needed to do in that moment to be able to get what we wanted,” he said. “We’re trying to get a bucket and Greg was in the right place at the right time, ready to try to score. And he got fouled, gave us a chance there and that’s all we can ask for at the end of a game.”

The low-scoring game took shape in the opening stanza when the Billies (6-2) led 10-4. But the Mustangs came storming back, dropping 19 for a 23-19 lead at the intermission. Fredericksburg cut into the deficit in the third period 31-28.

Marble Falls was 8 for 10 from the foul line.

“We felt like our free throws were not an issue,” the coach said. “We had spurts of being able to do well and be able to score. You outscore somebody 19-9 in a quarter and you get almost 20, you’re feeling pretty good about that. But we just turned the ball over too much. We had some opportunities to score and take advantage of our size on the inside, and we just didn’t do that very well. That’s what hurt us. They were just more disciplined than we were. The problem was we just weren’t disciplined enough to take care of the basketball and take advantage of the opportunities that were in front of us.” 

Beckett Berkman and junior forward Cooper Gray each scored nine points, junior guard Cypress Neve added six, junior forward Marc Barrios and Lemon each dropped in five, and senior posts Kaleb Biefeldt and Cameron Plumlee and junior guard Charlie Martin each finished with two.

The Mustangs’ goal is hold opponents to around 10 points a quarter to give themselves a chance.

“Defensively, we wanted to keep them under 50 and felt like we did a good job,” John Berkman said. “Our defense is really playing well for us right now and kept us in the game late in the game. We got exactly what we wanted there, but then just really struggled to take care of the basketball and make shots, and those things are key for sure. We were getting shots that I felt like were good shots. I didn’t feel like we took a bunch of bad shots. There were some, but that’s to be expected. We just have to be better on the offensive end. We played well enough defensively to win. We just didn’t play well enough offensively.” 

The Mustangs host their HTeaO Hoops Classic Thursday-Saturday, Dec. 4-6, at Marble Falls High School. Marble Falls meets Edison at 10:30 a.m. and Greenwood at 7:30 p.m. both on Thursday. Their records against those teams will determine where and what time they’ll play Friday. All games are at Marble Falls High School.

CAPTION: Colby Kitchen’s tough defense put the Mustangs in position to score the game-winning basket against Fredericksburg. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro