The Wildcats played another solid first three quarters against a favored District 13-5A foe. And once again Temple crumbled late, costing the team a much-needed district win.
After a strong start, Temple collapsed late once more against College Station A&M Consolidated, losing 87-67 on Tuesday night at Wildcat Gym.
“I felt like we were playing well,” Temple coach Bruce Etheridge said. “We got a little tired. If we could just stop them from getting layups . . .”
That’s seemingly all the Tigers did in the fourth quarter, burning the Wildcats repeatedly in transition.
The Wildcats (9-17 overall, 1-5 in 13-5A) were certainly in the game entering the fourth quarter, trailing by just six. Temple was able to stay in the game earlier thanks to solid post defense and a solid inside-outside game from Eric Valdez and Bron Etheridge.
But in the fourth quarter, none of that mattered.
Having run back on defense against the Tigers’ transition game for the first three quarters, Bruce Etheridge said his players simply got tired.
That certainly didn’t matter to A&M Consolidated (19-7, 5-2). The Tigers continued to push the pace even more, turning the fourth quarter into a full-sprint affair.
The Tigers opened the quarter with a 12-5 run in the first three minutes.
Consol started its run with back-to-back 3-pointers by Tim Hamilton, who finished with a game-high 24 points. That six-point lead to open the quarter had suddenly ballooned to 13.
“When we got it to eight or nine, we could never get it to double-digits - all the way through the second half,” Consolidated coach Rusty Segler said. “We finally broke through that. I think we wore them down a little bit.”
Though Temple was certainly concerned about taking away the A&M Consolidated’s post players - who finished with a combined 13 points - the Wildcats’ guards often lost their men in transition.
And that’s where the Tigers made them pay. Along with Hamilton, three other A&M Consolidated players - Kevin Jefferson (19), Terrence Bowser (15) and Jay Flowers (12) - scored in double-digits.
The Wildcats got off to hot start thanks to a change in the starting lineup.
After seeing time in practice at point guard in the past few days, Bron Etheridge got the starting nod and provided Temple’s offense with a spark. He scored 11 of his 18 points in the first quarter.
Etheridge and fellow sophomores Valdez and Lache Seastrunk were the Wildcats’ top three scorers. Valdez finished with 18 and Seastrunk scored 14.
While the losses have certainly been frustrating, Bruce Etheridge knew his team was bound to take its lumps with so many sophomores playing major minutes.
“We realize that we’re young,” he said. “We realize that by the time these guys are juniors and seniors, they’re going to win a whole lot of games. It’s just one of those things we just have to go through.
“We’re making progress. I thought our young kids played well tonight.”
rschneider@temple-telegram.com
