The Pampa Hustlin’ Harvesters (9-7, 1-0) hosted their long-time rival Borger Bulldogs on Tuesday evening to start District play. Hustled is exactly what they did as they dominated the Bulldogs 75-25 to start District 1-0.
“Our defense was really good and they were struggling to get shots off,” Head Coach Braydon Barker said. “They wasted a lot of the first quarter just to get a shot. There weren’t that many possessions. Our defense was really aggressive. We blocked out their big guy, cause he’s a beast. We pressured their guards and forced turnovers. That’s what helped us in the second quarter, we scored off of our steals and deflections.”
The Harvesters were led out of the gate by junior Dalton Booth, who sank a bucket at the 5:59 mark of the opening quarter to put Pampa on the board. Senior Bryce Lynn added another pair of baskets to extend that lead to 6-0 with 4:15 in the first.
After a 12-9 lead in the first, Junior Parker Webb had a bucket followed by a three from Booth to give Pampa the 17-9 lead with 6:35 left in the second quarter. The Harvesters continued to pour points on in the second with a bucket from junior Trill Young, a three from Booth and baskets from Lynn to take a commanding 29-9 lead with 3:02 left in the half. Young came in after a timeout and added more shots, and before you could blink, Pampa had a 37-12 lead at half.
The youth continued to show the future of the program is bright as freshman Talon Garcia sank a couple of baskets to complement Booth’s three in the third quarter.
“We have depth, which is really good,” Barker said. “We’re pretty even as far as seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen. We had two freshmen play on varsity tonight: Talon Garcia and Aaron Martinez. It just shows the depth we have.”
With a 51-23 lead after three, the Harvesters kept their foot on the gas pedal with a three from Junior Conner Hall, followed by a pair of buckets from Booth and Garcia before junior Tristan Bagwell joined the scoring parade.
“He (Junior Tristan Bagwell) is a big body in there,” Bagwell said. “He’s strong and mobile still. We’re able to guard the perimeter more because we know he has the middle. That gives us a big advantage. He is always battling.”
Freshman Aaron Martinez got some playing time late as he and junior Kyler Peet joined the statsheet as the closed out the 75-25 dominant performance to lock in that first District win.
The Harvesters will look to start District 2-0 when they host Hereford on Friday. Gametime will follow the Lady Harvesters at around 7:30 p.m.
“We’ve still got to play good defense and not turn the ball over,” Barker said. “They try to pressure you and force you into turnovers. As long as we handle the ball and make them go against our half-court defense I think we have a pretty good shot.”
STAT ROUNDUP
Dalton Booth led the team in scoring with 29 points with four threes and went 7-10 in free throws; Talon Garcia had 11 points with a three; Bryce Lynn had 10 points; Trill young had six points and went 2-4 in free throws; Parker Webb and Aaron Martinez each had four points; Conner Hall had three points off a trey; Tristan Bagwell and Kyler Peet had two points.
