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Nathan Kendrick drives to the basket during a recent game. The Tigers will play at Big Spring Friday beginning at 6:15 p.m.
Snyder took a step forward with Tuesday’s win at Brownwood. Now the team is one victory away from clinching a playoff berth for the first time since 2008.
The Tigers (7-23, 2-5 District 5-4A) will conclude the regular season at Big Spring (4-22, 2-4 district) on Friday.
After two close losses to Sweetwater and Brownwood, head coach Lee Scott said his team may be breaking new ground, but it will depend on Friday’s performance.
“It was a huge win at Brownwood,” Scott said. “These players were able to pull it off on the road and face another tough road game Friday. The players are showing they can do it. The team proved they could fight through adversity by trailing at halftime and coming back to get the lead and winning. Tuesday’s win put us in a good position.”
Snyder held fourth-quarter leads in both Sweetwater games, losing by four points in Sweetwater, and by five points in overtime at home.
“We definitely had a good feeling switching it around,” Scott said of winning a close game. “We led teams for most of the games before losing at the end. It’s good to have everything turn right for us. It’s never an easy task to win at Big Spring, but beating them at home gives us confidence, along with the road win against Brownwood, which defeated Big Spring twice.”
Seniors Chris Dickinson and Kalen Cowley have been leading a group of young players. Cowley missed two games because of an illness and Dickinson scored six points against Brownwood.
“The win against Big Spring gives us motivation and shows what we can do,” Scott said. “We are believing in ourselves and know that we can win on Friday. We must do a better job of blocking out Big Spring’s two inside players and prevent the guards from driving. They were able to do that in the last game. We also will need to handle the full-court press better and be ready for Big Spring’s mixture of defenses.”
Sophomore Nathan Kendrick scored 16 points in Snyder’s first game against Big Spring. Alonso Wesley, also a sophomore, had 14 points and played sparely against Brownwood because of an illness. Scott said the other players, juniors Logan Greene, Cedrick Quiroz and Baron Wesley and sophomore Trey Samaniego, have also stepped up their game.
“The players are excited about the opportunity and hated to wait until Friday to play again,” Scott said. “We’re trying to get our year on the board in the gym. We are focusing on winning Friday’s game. We can do that if the players follow the game plan and just compete.”