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Alonzo Wesley drives to the basket -
Kalen Cowley (5) dribbles around Estevan Mendoza of Denver City during Snyder’s 45-33 loss to Denver City on Tuesday.
Snyder could not overcome a slow start, even with a fourth-quarter rally, against Denver City Tuesday.
The Tigers outscored Denver City 19-12 in the fourth quarter, but lost a non-district basketball game, 45-33, at Tiger Gym.
Snyder’s Chris Dickinson’s field goal tied the game at 2-2 early in the first quarter, but Denver City went on a 10-0 run. The Tigers trailed 23-9 at halftime and 33-14 going into the fourth quarter.
“We picked up our play in the fourth quarter,” Snyder head coach Lee Scott said. “We continue our problem of turnovers against pressure defense. We need to learn how to handle it better. The effort was better in the fourth quarter and we did a better job of handling the ball. We stepped up the defense, which helped us get going on offense, leading to layups. We need to do that for four quarters.”
Chris Depaz finished with 13 points while Trey Samaniego added seven points.
Estevan Mendoza scored 18 points for Denver City.
Snyder cut Denver City’s lead from 19 points to 10 points, 41-31, with 1:24 left in the game on two Samaniego free throws. Snyder never cut the lead to single digits.
“We must handle defensive pressure better in future games,” Scott said. “The best way is to play against that type of pressure during practice and also apply that type of pressure when on offense. We need to get that going on both ends of the floor. The best way is to start playing that way in practice.”
Snyder (4-12) will play five games at the Sandhills Basketball Tournament in Monahans starting with Presidio at 1 p.m. Dec. 28. The Tigers will play Canyon Randall at 11:30 a.m. and Kermit at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 29. Snyder will conclude the tournament against Pampa at 1 p.m. and Monahans at 4 p.m. Dec. 30.
Denver City 12 11 10 12—45
Snyder 2 7 5 19—33
Denver City scorers — Estevan Mendoza 18, Nicolas Ruiz 9, Josh Mills 8, Riley Boyd 5, Mathew de la Rosa 2, Ivan Villarreal 2, Eddie Zubia 1.
Snyder scorers — Chris Depaz 13, Trey Samaniego 7, Nathan Kendrick 4, Logan Greene 3, Alonza Wesley 2, Christian Ganoe 2,Chris Dickinson 2.
JV
Jayden Samaniego and Talon Vandygriff scored in doubles figure to lead the Snyder JV to a 53-47 victory over Denver City.
Samaniego scored a game-high 17 points while Vandygriff had 10 points. Shawl Lentz added nine points and J.T. Lewis had six points.
Snyder scorers — Jayden Samaniego 17, Talon Vandygriff 10, Shawl Lentz 9, J.T. Nelson 6, Julian Flores 5, Joey Selvera 2, Jose Ramos 2, Christian Zapato 1, Josh Deere 1.
Freshmen
The Snyder freshman team defeated Denver City, 57-36.
Kobe Roemisch and Ryan Rodriguez each scored 15 points. Teafale Lenard added 10 points. Doran Baiza scored seven.
Snyder scorers — Kobe Roemisch 15, Ryan Rodriguez 15, Teafale Lenard 10, Doran Baiza 7, Sammy Sosa 3, James Roden 3, Julian Rodriguez 2, Eli Garza 2.