HEREFORD- The Pampa Hustlin’ Harvesters (16-12, 5-4) were hamstrung by a slow third quarter as they fell to the Hereford Whitefaces 58-54 on Friday night in Hereford.
The Harvesters led 25-22 going into the locker rooms at half, but Hereford out-scored Pampa 23-9 in the third quarter for the 45-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Whitefaces went on to win 58-54.
“We had a rough third quarter,” Head Coach Braydon Barker said. “We had way too many turnovers, and didn’t play great defense. That ended up being the difference in the game.”
Junior Dalton Booth and Senior Isaiah Fernandez led the team in scoring each with 18 points. Booth had four three-pointers, went 4-5 in free throws, had four assists, two deflections and three steals; Fernandez had four threes, went 2-2 in free throws and had one rebound, two assists, three deflections and one steal; Junior Tristan Bagwell had six points, went 2-4 in free throws, had nine rebounds, two assists, one deflection and two steals; Junior Jose Alonzo had six points with one three, went 1-2 in free throws, two rebounds, one assist, six deflections and three steals; junior K’Trillion Young had three points with a trey, four rebounds, one assist and one steal; junior Parker Webb had three points, went 1-2 in free throws and one steal and senior Julian Alonzo had nine rebounds, seven deflections, two steals and one block.
The 1-2 punch of Booth and Fernandez is growing into quite the tool for the Harvesters.
“Isaiah had a great night offensively,” Barker said. “It is definitely a bonus adding another shooter to our rotation.”
The Harvesters return to action tonight when they host Perryton. Game time is around 7:30 p.m. following the Lady Harvesters game against the Rangerettes.
“Perryton is a feisty team,” Barker said. “They have a couple of good shooters and get after it on defense. We will have to take care of the basketball and play better defense than we did on Friday.”