SEGUIN — The Rice High School boy’s basketball team was defeated in a close match vs Poth Feb. 24 at Goldie Harris Gym in Seguin by a final score of 54-41.
Poth was able to make a bunch of shots in the first half and while Rice was able to make a late run towards the end, Poth found ways to limit the offense and also make big baskets in crunch time.
“They just hit a lot of shots,” said Rice head boy’s basketball coach John Hunter.
“Eighteen out of their 24 points in the first half were threes. They were deep and they were on fire. I think they only missed two threes in the first half. They shot the ball way better than we did. I thought we played good defense, but when they’re making NBA range threes, it’s hard to play any better defense.”
After a big shooting first half from Poth, the Raiders hit a three-pointer at about the seven minute mark in the third quarter to climb within one point at 24-23.
The Pirates responded with a three of their own and a fast break layup to go up 32-23, then after a Rice timeout, Poth maintained that same kind of lead for the rest of the quarter with a couple layups and a made shot.
Rice was able to respond with a three-pointer in the corner from junior Kordae Johnson and a transition layup from junior Jireh Cobia in the final two minutes to make it 38-33 in favor of Poth at the end of the third quarter.
The Pirates had a big fourth quarter and stretched their lead to double-digits about midway through the quarter with a three-pointer at the 4:20 mark to make it 45-33.
Poth kept that same kind of lead for the rest of the game after an and one basket about two minutes later and a layup with 1:20 to go.
Rice was able to respond with the three-pointer, but Poth had a big enough lead to where they could run out the clock in the final minute to win the game 54-41.
