“Everybody keeps beating everybody,” Layton said.
The Tem-Cats validated the analogy on Tuesday night.
Temple (15-11 overall, 3-4 in district) rallied from a 14-point deficit to avenge an earlier loss to Harker Heights and hand the first-place Lady Knights their first district defeat.
The win, arguably their biggest win of the season, pushed the Tem-Cats into a tie with Killeen Shoemaker for fourth place in the district and its final playoff position.
It also served as redemption for Temple, which lost a 12-point lead in a 44-39 loss to Heights last month and has dropped games to College Station A&M Consolidated and Shoemaker by a combined six points.
With that in mind, Layton doesn’t regard today’s 7 p.m. matchup with Belton at Wildcat Gym as a must-win situation for his Tem-Cats.
“Honestly, none of these games are do-or-die,” he said. “Every time you can steal a game on the road is big. People are going to be in the race until the last game. I don’t think Friday night is do-or-die, but I think over the next five games every game is big.”
Belton coach Randy Bell has a different approach.
After his squad won the consolation championship at Copperas Cove’s holiday tournament and beat perennial 13-5A power Bryan on the road, the Lady Tigers (11-16, 2-5) have dropped consecutive home games to Harker Heights and A&M Consolidated to fall one game behind Temple and Shoemaker.
A Belton win over Temple tonight coupled with a Shoemaker loss to Heights would force a three-way tie for fourth place.
However, a loss would put Belton two games behind the Tem-Cats with four games left and place the Lady Tigers’ playoff hopes on life support.
“We talked to our kids and said, ‘You have the chance to get in the playoffs and you have to win on the road,’” said Bell, whose team finishes with games against Temple, Shoemaker, Killeen Ellison, Bryan and Heights. “We haven’t defended our home court like we should have.
“At this point in time you hate to say ‘must-win,’ but for us to get in through the stretch, we have to win three, four or all five to have a legitimate shot of getting in (the playoffs). If you only win three of the next five, you have to rely on someone else.”
Belton certainly wants to avoid that route.
In order to do so, Bell hopes his Lady Tigers fare better than they did in the first matchup with Temple, a 39-20 loss in which Belton didn’t make a field goal for 15½ minutes and scored seven second-half points.
“I don’t think there’s anything on the planet, and Coach Layton would agree, that we could take from the first game,” Bell said.
“It was one of the most boring games of basketball I’ve ever watched. I don’t know if we should apologize to the fans for that game, but there isn’t anything either team can take from that game except to shoot the ball better.”
Added Layton: “They know us pretty well and we know them pretty well. When both teams do things that make the other team sluggish, it depends on who comes to perform that night is who will win the game.”
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
