(Yoakum) — The Edna Cowboys took advantage of Marion foul trouble to rally back from a 14 point second half deficit and down the Bulldogs 65-57 in overtime in the Class 3A Bi-District round in Yoakum on Tuesday night.
Marion senior Dominic Castellanos lead the Bulldogs in building a 33-20 halftime lead as he played aggressively finding open teammates for three’s and dropping in 13 points of his own in the first two quarters. Freshman Travis Randle benefited from Castellanos’ stellar play as he canned a pair of trey’s off feeds from Castellanos in the 1st quarter to help Marion get out to a 16-7 lead by the end of the quarter.
In the 3rd quarter, the Bulldogs built a 44-30 lead midway through the period when Castellanos would pick up his 4th foul in the game and then was assessed a technical resulting in his 5th infraction forcing him to the bench fouling out of the game with 15 points.
The Cowboys would respond with a 13-0 run in Castellanos’ absence through the end of the quarter and into the 4th to cut the lead to one. Marion junior forward Walker Lindeman would also foul out during the Edna run and the Cowboys would take the lead in the 4th quarter at 50-48.
The Bulldogs would respond with junior Richard Rayos driving and scoring inside to ignite a 6-0 Marion run and put the Bulldogs up 54-50 with about a minute to go. The Cowboys would press Marion and force a couple of turnovers leading to a pair of baskets, tying the game at 54 and sending the contest to overtime. Edna would outscore the Bulldogs 11-3 in the extra session to move onto the next round.
Following the game, Marion head coach Jon Allen said he was proud of how hard his team fought despite the result on the scoreboard.
“Very proud. We finished the game with three freshman in there. For two and a half quarters we had them on the ropes doing what we wanted them to do. That was our game plan and then it just kinda got away from us.” Allen said. “The momentum for them kicked in and we knew once they started getting turnovers on us that’s the way they play and it was hard for us to come back from that. Our offense sputtered there at the end of the 3rd (quarter) and into the 4th quarter. We did enough to get it to overtime, but we probably never should’ve been there.”
Edna was lead by senior forward Kevin Robinson who had 21 points. The Cowboys move on to face Crystal City in the UIL Area round later this week.
Rayos finished with 20 points while Randle had 17 for the Bulldogs, including 4 three-pointers on the night. Marion finished the 2022-23 campaign as the 4th place team in District 26-3A with a 16-17 overall record.