After a close 59-54 overtime loss to the Columbus Cardinals on Tuesday, Jan. 26, the Tigers were ready to rise up and defeat one of their biggest rivals – the La Grange Leopards.

They were so close to winning their first district game against La Grange at their home court last Friday, but one point stood in the way.  La Grange’s Wilkerson, who totaled with 15 points, got a three-pointer at the buzzer, making the final score 66-65.

Tiger Oscar Kenebrew, who had a total of eight points, got his team on the scoreboard, making a field goal with 7:14 remaining in the first quarter.

About a minute later, La Grange’s Weyand, who totaled with seven points, got a field goal for his team.

With 5:06 remaining, Smithville’s Coltyn Brown, who had a total of 15 points, nine of them from three-pointers, got his team’s second field goal. Teammate Joe Crank, who came out with nine points, made one 30 seconds later.

After La Grange’s Morriss got his second field goal with 4:05 remaining in the quarter, the game started picking up.

Almost directly after, Jacob Hannusch, who had a total of six points, got a quick basket for Smithville.

In the remaining four minutes, Tigers Dominique Ward, Kenebrew, Wade Childress (who led his team with 17 points) and Crank contributed field goals for their team.

Meanwhile, the Leopards were only able to get in four points, ending the first quarter with a score of 18-14 Smithville.

The second quarter started out with two quick baskets from La Grange’s Wilkerson in the first two minutes, which tied the game 18-18.

Shortly after, Morriss made two more quick field goals for the Leopards.

Excluding free throws, Brown was able to get Smithville’s first basket of the second quarter – his first three-pointer with 4:33 remaining.

Teammate Childress made a field goal a minute later.  Then, after a quick steal, he got fouled, contributing two more points for his team from the free-throw line.

With 3:04 remaining in the second quarter, the score was 28-24 Smithville.

La Grange’s Villanueva, who had a game-high 21 points, got their last couple baskets in the remaining minutes, making the score 32-29 Smithville.

For the last half of the game, the Tigers were able to keep the Leopards from getting ahead until the last couple minutes.

Childress made the first basket of the half with 6:20 remaining in the third quarter.
About a minute later, teammate Crank made a field goal as well.

With 4:22 remaining, Childress made another basket.  Meanwhile, La Grange scored eight points.

The score was 42-37 with 3:45 remaining in the third quarter.

Smithville was not able to make another basket (with the exception of free throws) until Brown made his second three-pointer with 18 seconds remaining, ending the third quarter with a score of 47-44 Smithville.

A minute into the final quarter, Brown made his third three-pointer.

For the first four minutes of the quarter, La Grange’s only baskets (with the exception of free throws) came from Villanueva.

Up until the last two minutes of the game, Smithville was ahead during the whole second half. With another field goal from Villanueva, however, the game was then tied 61-61.

The last minute was pretty intense.

Hannusch made a field goal for the Tigers with 57 seconds remaining, getting them back ahead. However, La Grange’s Byler got fouled with 45 seconds remaining, tying the game 63-63.

Smithville got back up with a field goal from Crank with 12 seconds remaining, but there was still enough time for the Leopards to score.

With that, Wilkerson made a three-pointer at the buzzer for the win.
Their records are now 6-13, 0-5 in district.