Leps Leap-Frog Buffaloes in Standings
Their biggest home crowd of the season saw the Leps play their most complete basketball game.
In a dominating effort against a rival that had beaten them three weeks go, the La Grange boys dismantled Giddings 54-27 at home Friday to leadfrog the Buffaloes in the district standings.
The Leps are now 16-10 overall and 7-2 in district, a half game ahead of Giddings for second place. La Grange trails Manor New Tech by one game but will play them this Tuesday. Before that, however, La Grange plays at Austin Achieve Monday.
Hopes of a district title are still very much alive for La Grange thanks to Friday’s effort.
The Leps jumped out to a 15-4 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.
“We didn’t want to lose again 35-31 (the margin of the previous meeting between these two teams), we were sick about that,” said La Grange head coach David Cooper. “Once that game was over we all made up our minds, we want to run, we want to push the pace. We did some things differently defensively that really hurt them. And then once they got behind they felt like they had to come out and pressure us, and that played into our hands.”
Ty Trlicek led the Leps in scoring with 14 points. Nate Scott had 13 and Reece Nygren added nine.
Lawson Cruise scored a team-high 17 for Giddings.
“That first game against Giddings, it was so close, so to come out here and beat them by that much, it feels good,” Trlicek said. “We switched to a different defense, a half zone and a half man and it worked out perfectly.
“I’ve been waiting for my shots to start falling and they have fallen these last two games and it feels good.”
Coach Cooper has said this is his final season coaching, which will end a 40-year span of Giddings versus La Grange rivalry games as both a player and a coach. He ends it on a high note.
“Coach Majewski and I are really good friends and we’ve had some greats games against each other and we knew this would be the last one,” Cooper said. “It kinda scares me if it comes down to a tie (in the standings), we might have to play them again. I don’t want that.”
The Leps will try to keep the momentum going this week with those back-to-back trips to Austin Monday and Tuesday before closing out the regular season Feb. 14 at home against Smithville.
2/3/23
La Grange boys 54, Giddings 27 Giddings 4 6 6 11 – 27 LG 15 8 10 21 – 54
LG scoring: Ty Trlicek 14, Nate Scott 13, Reece Nygren 9, Jacob Chovanetz 6, Clayton Knapik 5, Eli Roberts 3, Jaxon Cooper 2, Veer Desai 2.
District 22-A Boys basketball Manor New Tech 8-1 La Grange 7-2 Giddings 7-3 Taylor 5-4 Smithville 4-5 Austin Achieve 1-8 Caldwell 0-9
JV: LG 49, Giddings 27 Leading scorer: Meng 13
Freshmen: Giddings 36, LG 22 Leading scorer: Kleiber 12