Marble Falls boys basketball loses to Vista Ridge

CAPTION: Marble Falls junior forward Marc Barrios was constantly moving for the Mustangs as he helped protect the paint on defense and attacked the rim on offense. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School boys basketball team lost to Cedar Park Vista Ridge 81-42 Nov. 11 in the season opener.

The Mustangs scored first, but the Rangers seized control of the outcome soon after thanks to an active defense where they applied pressure on the ball handler all over the court. In short Vista Ridge didn’t make things easy for the Mustangs, no matter if it was a full-court or half-court defense. The Rangers stepped in front of passing lanes for steals and for deflections.

“Their defensive aggressiveness overwhelmed us to start the game,” head coach John Berkman said. “And sometimes that gets you when you’re not ready for it, but it’s a good test for us to see that as we’ll see that down the road, whether it be district or whether it be in the playoffs. That’ll help us get ready for it. So that’s good.”

Vista Ridge applied that same defensive mentality to its offense where the Rangers worked to get clean looks and ended the contest by knocking down 12 three-pointers.

“We just have to work on some defensive rotations and be better about those kinds of things,” Berkman said.

While he acknowledged Vista Ridge seemed to be quicker to the ball, he pointed out the Rangers’ depth allowed their coaches to substitute more frequently. That let them distribute minutes to multiple players while keeping them fresher. Berkman noted a couple of Mustangs finished their commitment to football last week and another was ill.

“Those combinations didn’t help us either,” he said. “But they were shoveling guys in and out and had a lot of guys hitting shots and doing good things for them being aggressive.”

He pointed out the Mustangs scored 10 points in the first period, nine in the second, 13 in the third, and 10 in the fourth. They also were 13 for 21 from the foul line.

“From the free throw line, we want to be better than that,” Berkman said. “In the long haul it does turn into some things. And in a game that’s closer, those things matter. If we can get in that double-digit (scoring) range every single quarter, that helps for sure, which is good consistency for us. We had opportunities that we could have scored more in each quarter.”

Junior forward Marc Barrios had seven points, while junior guard Beckett Berkman finished with 15.

“I thought Marc had a couple of opportunities that just didn’t go his way,” the coach said.

Those stats illustrated a few characteristics Berkman liked from his team during the contest.

“I liked our effort all night long,” he said. “I don’t think we ever quit or just stopped playing at any point – I like that. I saw some grit in our guys trying to continuously fight. And so that’s always good.”

That commitment to playing until the final horn, especially against an opponent that worked tirelessly to put the game out of reach, speaks volumes about the program and the coaches, he added.  

He noted that facing that type of defensive pressure now only helps the Mustangs.

“We have to work on that,” he said. “That’s something for us to work on and be better at. It’s early in the year and we just found out something about ourselves, which is what we need to work on, and that’s OK. Even though somebody is pressuring us, we can handle it a little better.”

Marble Falls is at Lago Vista Friday, Nov. 14, with the subvarsities playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity at 6:30 p.m.

CAPTION: Marble Falls junior guard Beckett Berkman’s solid shooting was on display against Cedar Park Vista Ridge. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro