Albany’s playoff run ends against Graford
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lions saw their boys basketball season come to an end Friday, Feb. 21 with a 66-46 loss to Graford in the area round of the Class 2A Division II playoffs at Eastland.
The Lions, who reached the second round for the fifth year in a row, finished the season with a 14-9 record.
“We gave Graford everything they wanted,” Lions coach Ryder Peacock said. “Any time you get a team that’s 100 percent man defense and get them in a zone defense by the second quarter, you know you scared them a little bit. We did a good job. If we make a few shots, maybe things change.”
Aaden Mendez led the Lions with 14 points and Clay Chapman added 11.
Albany got off to a fast start, leading 22-14 after the first quarter before Graford pulled even at halftime at 30-30.
“In the first quarter, we were getting to the basket and beating them,” Peacock said. “I told the guys one-on-one, they couldn’t match up with us. Their best five versus our best five in a man, we’re going to get by them and have some easy baskets.
“We’ve got film as far back as November and Graford never ran zone defense. When you’ve got a 6-6, 6-7 kid in the middle of a zone, it makes it hard to score around the basket. They were challenging us to make enough shots outside to beat them.”
The Rabbits outscored the Lions 30-13 over the middle two periods to take a nine-point lead into the fourth quarter.
“After they adjusted to a zone, we shot the ball well at times,” Peacock said. “We needed the ball to go in late in the third, early in the fourth. That’d have made a big difference in how the game played out. We just couldn’t get that shot to fall.”
Despite the disappointing end, Peacock said the Lions had a successful season with an inexperienced team.
“I thought the guys did well,” he said. “We had basically two kids who had any playoff experience, varsity experience. We lost seven guys from last year’s team, so I knew we wouldn’t have a lot of experience. The main thing was growing up a little bit and maturing.”
After another late start because of football, Albany started district play 3-0 before losing three in a row.
“We were in a pretty deep hole halfway through district, then we went 5-1 in the second half to get us in a better position for the playoffs,” Peacock said. “That was the first big thing for us maturity-wise, coming back and finishing strong, getting in the playoffs and winning a game.”
