(Geronimo) – The Navarro Panther Boys basketball team got their first win of the season taking down San Antonio Fox Tech 56-51 in a sea-saw battle on Tuesday afternoon at Navarro High School. The victory was the first for first year Navarro head coach Cody Wallace.
The Panthers took a 15-10 lead after the first period, but the Buffaloes stampeded back in the 2nd quarter outscoring Navarro 15-9 to take a 25-24 lead at the break. Rylan Ward had 7 points and Benton Stanley had 6 to help the Panthers keep pace.
Caleb Standlee and Caleb Thomas came up with some nifty steals and buckets for the Panthers in the 3rd quarter to help put Navarro up 38-33 at the end of the period, but the Buffaloes started the 4th quarter on a 12-7 run to tie the game at 45.
That’s when Navarro’s Tucker McDonald came up with two big baskets to give the Panthers a lead they would never relinquish. The junior center first drained a 3 pointer to put Navarro in front and then was able to get a layup off a steal to give the Panthers a 50-45 lead with just under 3 minutes to go in the game.
Navarro coach Cody Wallace said McDonald came up big in the moment.
“It was huge. I tell everybody when your number is called, you gotta be ready to go and he took that to heart today. He was ready to make some key shots when we needed them. I’m very proud of him.”
The Panthers first win came on the 2nd day of back to back games and Wallace says his team made good progression from one day to the next.
“Today we made a lot of really good adjustments from our game yesterday and the two before that. I think (the team) did a phenomenal job of just taking the lessons we’ve been learning and applying them to the court.”
Navarro was lead in scoring in the game by Caleb Thomas who had 15 points including 10 in the second half. Caleb Standlee chipped in with 13 points. The Panthers will take a week off before they host Blanco next Tuesday.
(Devine) — In the other area boys game on Tuesday, the Marion Bulldogs dropped a 46-38 decision on the road at Devine. The Bulldogs were lead by Richard Rayos who had 10 points. Dominic Castellanos poured in 9 points and Walker Lindemann had 8. The Bulldogs are off for the Thanksgiving break until next week.