Brooks Scores 1,000th Point as the Leopards Beat Giddings by 14

Three weeks ago La Grange’s Conner Brooks beat Giddings with some last second free throws.

Tuesday he led the Leps to another win over the Buffaloes, this time 45-31, in what was a milestone night for the La Grange junior.

Brooks scored his 1,000th career point as part of a 20-point night in the victory that moves the Leps’ record to 20-9 overall and 5-1 in district.

“It’s a rivalry game. We want to beat them as much as we could,” Brooks said. “It’s one of the best games of the year – and we had to win.”

And about that 1,000th point milestone?

“It shows how much my family has done for me and all my teammates, and all the effort I put into the game,” Brooks said.

La Grange head coach Trent Collier had high praise for Brooks.

“Conner’s one of the best players I’ve ever coached,” Collier said. “He does so many good things for us beyond scoring. He controls tempo for us. He rebounds well. He’s a good leader. Conner is a dream to coach. He’s tough, hard-nosed and he can put the ball in bucket.”

But the Leps needed more than just Brooks’ heroics.

Brandon Mathis scored 10 points and had four blocked shots. Cole Collier scored nine. Mason Kleiber scored four and grabbed 10 rebounds. Dillan Johnson scored two.

The Leps also needed a superior defensive effort.

“Giddings is really good at making it muddy, making you struggle to score,” Collier said. “We couldn’t put the ball in the bucket, but who cares, they couldn’t either. I thought we played really well defensively. I thought it was a hardfought game. Giddings versus La Grange is always fun. What a good win for us. This basically puts us in the No. 1 seed for the small school division. There might be some scenario where we could lose it, but some weird things would have to happen.”

22-4A Boys Hoops Navasota 6-0 La Grange 5-1 Giddings 3-3 Bellville 2-4 Caldwell 1-5 Smithville 1-5