The Llano High School boys basketball team lost to Brady 53-49 Jan. 21 after losing to Blanco 45-31 Jan. 17.
Yellow Jackets head coach Landry Norwood noted his athletes are playing the type of defense that gives them a chance at victories.
'We held Blanco to 45 points,' he said. 'They're very good shooters. I was proud of the way our defense played.'
The same can be said of how Llano played against Brady.
The Yellow Jackets were down 51-46 with 1 minute and 50 seconds left in the contest.
Junior post Conrad Zwicke scored to trim the deficit to 51-48 then senior Carl Schutte stole the ball 39 seconds later and called a timeout.
But he was fouled on the next play and made a free throw to narrow the deficit to 51-49 with 52 seconds left.
Llano senior Jaxon Johnson stole the ball and passed, but it was lost out of bounds.
After a timeout, the Jack-
called a time.
Brady senior forward Mason Airheart stole the ball and was fouled with 11 seconds left. He made a free throw for a 52-49 advantage.
Both squads exchanged turnovers, but Llano attempted a 3-pointer that was missed and immediately fouled with half a second remaining. Airheart scored to ensure a victory.
The contest was close throughout. Llano sophomore Landon Magadance hit a 3-pointer to tie the contest at 13-13 at the end of the first period.The Yellow Jackets showed their might in the second quarter by opening up a five-point lead.
Senior forward Carl Schutte scored to keep Llano in front.
But with about a minute left, Brady junior guard Sean Jacoby scored to trim the deficit to 26-22 then he 'poked' the ball out of the Llano ball handler, which was picked up by teammate freshman guard Blane James, who scored. That trimmed Llano's lead to 26-24.
Brady took a 31-29 lead with 5:33 remaining in the third period. That helped the Bulldogs build a 43-42 advantage headed into the final stanza.
Junior post Konrad Zwicke led Llano with 11 points followed by Schutte and sophomore guard Landon Magadance with 9 apiece, senior guard Jaxon Johnson added 8, sophomore post Cole Kennedy scored 6, junior Dalton Newberg dropped in 4, and sophomore guard Caden White finished with 2.
The game against Blanco began much of the same way. Both teams exchanged baskets with Zwicke completing a 3-point play to give the Jackets an 11-10 advantage. Kennedy scored on an offensive rebound to tie the contest at 13-13 going into the second period.
The Panthers slowly began pulling away in the final 4 minutes of the period thanks to scoring their fifth 3-pointer of the half for a 23-17 lead.
Llano junior guard J.D. Friday scored to trim the deficit 30-23 at the intermission.
That's as close as the Jackets got. Llano scored a total of eight points in the second half.
'We were getting great looks,' Norwood said. 'And we were hitting them. But in the second half, we went cold. They had a good scheme and they scouted us pretty well. We still got it inside and couldn't fire from the outside.'
Johnson and Schutte led with 6 points, Magadance and Zwicke followed with 5 each, Kennedy dropped in 4, Friday added 3, and White finished with 2.
Llano welcomes Ingram Tom Moore Friday, Jan. 24, with the Junior Varsity Black playing at 5 p.m., Junior Varsity Orange taking the court at 6:15 p.m., and the varsity at 7:30 p.m.
