Leopards claim tooth-and-nail win over Hawks

TEXARKANA, Texas — Pleasant Grove erased a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit, but Liberty Eylau withstood a late charge in District 15-4A boys basketball Friday.

The Leopards held an 11-point lead three different times in the final quarter, but the Hawks went to a foul defense to prolong the game and climbed their way back before L-E held on for a 60-58 victory at Hawk Gym.

Liberty-Eylau shot 33 percent in the game on 17-of-51 field goals. The Leopards committed 16 turnovers and benefitted from 22 by the Hawks.

PG held a 40-36 rebounding advantage and shot 38 percent on 22-of-54 shooting.

The Hawks had four turnovers on their first five possessions of the third quarter, and Liberty-Eylau extended its advantage to 12 points at 39-27. After the Leopard lead was 42-29, PG scored seven in a row to cut it to six (42-36).

Takylan Hampton drained a 3-pointer for Liberty Eylau to be up 45-36 to start the fourth.

The lead fluctuated between 7-11 points through the first seven minutes of the final period. The Leopards were up 50-39 with 4:19 left before Pleasant Grove fought back to 50-43 with 3:34 remaining.

With 2:55, L-E regained a 54-43 edge, and with 2:23 to go the Hawks were within 54-47.

Pleasant Grove nailed a 3-pointer with 35 ticks left to make it 58-53 and another with 12.5 seconds to make it 59-58. After a free throw for LibertyEylau, a 3-point shot by the Hawks rattled off the rim to preserve the win.

The teams wasted little time before going at each other with the foot on the gas, and the lead

changed nine times in the first 4:08 with three points the largest margin by either side. The offenses stalled the rest of the first quarter, however, and the Leopards held a 15-14 advantage at the first break.

With the defenses taking over in the second quarter, neither team scored in the opening 1:51 and there were 12 combined missed free throws.

T’vondrick Henry broke the scoreless streak with a fast-break layup for the Hawks, and the lead changed three more times before halftime.

Liberty-Eylau scored four in a row, all from the charity stripe, for a 24-21 lead with 2:41 left in the second quarter. After a layup by the Hawks, L-E finished the half on an 8-2 run to take a 32-25 lead at intermission.

Pleasant Grove shot 38 percent in the first half on 9-of-24 field goals. The Leopards had a 33 percent field goal percentage on 10-of-30 shooting.

Kentraile Atkins led Liberty-Eylau with 14 points, Beandre Wafer scored 11, Damian Henderson had 10 and Takylan Hampton nine. Javon Hunter pulled down 11 rebounds for the winners.

Henry led all scorers with 18 points for the Hawks. Landon Jackson and Brett Carmony added 10 points apiece, and Jackson also had 11 boards.