The Llano High School boys' basketball team beat Florence 61-42 January 28 before losing to Comfort 78-49 January 31 and Blanco 43-22 February 4.
The Yellow Jackets took control from the start thanks to scoring 19 points and limiting the Buffaloes to 13 in the opening stanza. Llano followed that with 20 points in the second period and continuing to play stifling defense. That led to a 39-22 lead at the intermission.
"The big thing with any team," head coach Landry Norwood said, "defense always comes first. We've been trying a lot of defenses. We've been focusing on different defenses. The boys have been good about learning them."
The Jackets focused on containing two Buffaloes, whose touches ensure the offense works correctly.
"Florence has two pretty good players," the coach said. "We tried to take them away. We faced-guarded them. We didn't let them catch the ball and do anything. Our personnel took away their big offensive threats. That was a huge advantage for us. We knew if we took those two kids out, we had a better chance."
What made the win more impressive was that some Jackets missed the contest because of illness.
"We had big contributors in the game," Norwood said. "We executed well. It was great for us and a great team win for all of us."
Senior post Carl Schutte led with 20 points followed by sophomore guard Landon Magadance with 13, junior post Konrad Zwicke dropped in 8, junior guard Dalton Newberg and sophomore post Cole Kennedy each scored 6 points, and sophomores Emerson Pool and Caden White each finished with 4.
"It's always great to get a win," Norwood said.
Going into the contest against Blanco, Llano knew that it needed to win to have a shot at the Class 3A playoffs.
The Jackets played like at the beginning. They trailed 10-6 going into the second quarter. But the Panthers outscored them 16-5 to take a 26-11 lead at the intermission. Blanco outscored Llano 17-11 in the second half.
Llano will finish the season on the road. The first stop is at Brady Friday, February 7, then Ingram Tom Moore Tuesday, February 11. The subvarsities play at 5:00 p.m. and the varsity follows.
