Slaton, TX— A big contest arrived on the horizon for District 2-3A as #11 Slaton hosted #7 Shallowater in a big district tilt that would give the winner an upper hand in a tough district race as both teams figure to make deep runs in the playoffs this year.
In the first quarter, the Shallowater Mustangs got their first six points of the game from Cruz Dickson as the Mustangs pulled out to an 8-2 lead and eventually ended the quarter with a 13-7 lead over the Tigers as the game got intense after the first eight minutes.
In the second quarter, Braeshon Kennard got hot and scored nine of his fourteen first half points in a 9-0 run for the Tigers that put them ahead, 16-13 before Logan Winn of Shallowater hit a three and both teams battled back and forth to a 23-23 tie after the first half.
In the start of the second half, Shallowater, led by Cooper Martin’s three three-pointers in a row, went on a 13-3 run to take a 36-26 lead with 4:42 left in the third quarter. After a quick timeout, the Tigers went on a run of their own with some unbelievable shots from Braeshon to cut the deficit to 42-38, heading into the final eight minutes of the game.
In the last stanza. The game went wild as the lead changed five times on the back of big plays by Braeshon Kennard and Logan Winn of their respective teams with other stalwarts like Daniel Payne of Slaton who made the “glue” plays to help his team tie it up at 58 with six seconds left in the contest. On the last play, Shallowater doubled Braeshon and he kicked to Payne who missed a three-point shot that was rebounded and put back in by Z’qedrian Whaley at the buzzer to give Slaton a 60-58 win over Shallowater in a 3A top-eleven matchup.
Braeshon Kennard led all scorers with 28 points, while Cooper Martin had 19 points to lead Shallowater’s efforts. This was a classic game we hope to see again soon.
