Rattlers men’s basketball eliminated from playoffs after loss to East Central (1/28/2025)

By: Keilani De Luna

KTSW Reporter

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The East Central Hornets walked out of the Snakepit with a victory against the San Marcos Rattlers men’s basketball squad, 61-52. 

The Rattlers came into this game following a 26-point loss against Schertz-Clemens.  Jan. 3 was the last time the Rattlers matched up against the Hornets, where San Marcos was defeated with a final score of 76-74.     

East Central and San Marcos battled throughout the first quarter. At the end of the opening quarter, San Marcos led by three points over the Hornets, 13-10.  

In the beginning stages of the second quarter the East Central Hornets went on a 7-0 scoring run, forcing San Marcos to call a timeout. After answering with their own scoring run, the Rattlers were able to retake the lead in this ball game. 

Entering the third quarter after the halftime break, East Central opened the third quarter holding a 41-34 lead over San Marcos. The Hornets were able to rattle off another scoring run, this time outscoring the Rattlers 14-1. With the loss of point guard Cash Good due to an ankle injury, the Rattlers started to struggle. The Rattlers trailed by 13 points, 49-36, later on in the third quarter. Despite the struggles throughout the game for San Marcos, the team remained within striking distance heading into the fourth and final quarter.  

The Rattlers were unable to flip momentum and as a result, San Marcos defeated by East Central for the second time this season.  

Rattlers’ head coach Dan Miller spoke about the performance of San Marcos throughout the first half. 

“The first half, I thought we were intentional the way we guarded and played defense. If we didn’t smoke a few layups, we’d probably have a bigger lead honestly, we missed a lot of layups,” Miller said. “Overall, I feel like we showed fight against a talented [East Central] team.” 

Donavan Riddick recorded a double-double against the Hornets. Miller spoke about his all-around performance against East Central, providing the Rattlers with a spark. 

“Donavan is a scorer, when he is giving good effort, he is a good rebounder and I thought that he gave good effort tonight going at the rebounds hard and attacking the glass really hard, so his scoring punch really helped us [during] that second half.”  

With back-to-back losses, the San Marcos Rattlers fall to a 16-15 record on the season and have been officially eliminated from the playoffs after the loss to East Central. 

“We know that we don’t have playoffs in our future [this season] and we were eliminated, we know that. You know it’s just pride, pride in yourself, your team and your school,” said Miller. “That is what we are going to have, pride, and were going to fight and play hard; Judson is a tough match up, I think mentioned before, they are the most talented team in the district.” said Coach Miller  

For the first of the Rattlers’ last three games this season, San Marcos will travel to face the 13-15 Judson Rockets on Jan. 31 at 7 p.m.