A defenseless opening quarter in Cotulla put the Natalia Mustangs in too deep of a hole last week in LaSalle County they never recovered from.
After surrendering a 28 point effort, the Mustangs were unable to match the intensity in the final three quarters resulting in a 55-40 loss to the Cowboys.
“We came out flat in the 1st quarter defensively,” Coach Justin Welsh said. “Our kids continued to battle and were able to cut the deficit to 11 at the half.”
Natalia although flat defensively, played really well on the offensive end of the court in their opening quarter. Juelian Armendariz along with Enrique Martinez combined for fourteen out of the seventeen points.
In the second quarter, Natalia came alive defensively holding Cotulla to just six points. Unfortunately on the offensive end, the Stangs produced eight points allowing them to cut into the lead 34-25 at the half.
“We were able to cut the lead down to seven four different times in the 3rd quarter, but were unable to get over the hump,” Welsh said.
Natalia was edged 10-8 offensively in the 3rd as Cotulla held a 44-33 lead going to the 4th.
The Cowboys went on to edge Natalia 11-7 en route to the 55-40 lead.
“It would have been easy to shut it down after going down 22-9 with three minutes left in the opening quarter, but our kids continued to play hard and put themselves in a good position,” Welsh said. “We just have to execute better.”
Scoring Leaders: Armendariz 12, Martinez 10, Daniel Ramirez 4, Jared Stallworth 4.
By Eric Smith