Rattlers slither away with tough victory

By Jerry Castro

KTSW Sports Reporter

SAN MARCOS– Friday night, the San Marcos Rattlers faced off against the East Central Hornets in the snake pit. It was a scrappy match from beginning to end, with the Rattlers coming out on top 63-56.

Both teams flashed their defensive prowess, with the score being 8-6 in the middle of the first quarter. However, the Rattlers became scorching hot from three-point territory and made timely fast break layups as the score was 36-20 going into the half.

To start off the second half, it was looking like an easy blowout win for the Rattlers until the Hornets had something to say about it. With the Hornets full court press, the Rattlers were startled as their once double-digit lead vanished. The Hornets made it into a single-digit game late in the third quarter, with a score of 42-35.

When asking starting center Ory Williams about the full court press, he said, “We work on it at practice; we do seven-on-five drills with JV, but it’s still something we are working on.”

With the Rattlers facing the full-court press, they countered with a zone defense that slowed down East Central’s offense. It was a grueling battle in the fourth quarter, as both teams were struggling to score on offense. But once the Rattlers figured out how to get through the full court press, they were rolling.

Cash Good made a clutch three-pointer to give the Rattlers a sizeable lead over the Hornets, with the score being 57-46 with 3:51 in the fourth quarter to play.

The Hornets tried coming back, but the Rattlers did not allow them to. The Rattlers defended the Snakepit as they came away with a 63-56 victory.

Cash Good led the way with 18 points, and when asking Ory Williams how he and his teammates felt coming out of this tough victory, he said, “This win means a lot; it wasn’t a good win, but it was a much-needed win.”

The Rattlers will try to defend their home court as the Clemens Buffaloes come into town at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 30th, at the Snakepit. You can listen to the game on KTSW 89.9 and follow KTSW Sports on X for live updates of the game.