The Pampa Hustlin’ Harvesters (2-1) took their first road victory on Tuesday evening as they knocked off the Canadian Wildcats 52-36.
Despite both squads being depleted either from injury or football still in action, Head Coach Braydon Barker said it was great to come away with a win against the fellow Highway 60 team.
“It felt good to go on the road for the first time this year and come out with the win,” Barker said. “Canadian is still missing players from football, and we were missing several players as well due to different circumstances. Canadian had some big kids, so I thought we did a good job rebounding despite their size.”
The Harvesters went on a 25-8 run during the second quarter to set up a 31-18 halftime lead, giving them the edge in the second half.
“I thought our defensive intensity really picked up in the second quarter,” Barker said. “We had 31 deflections on the night, so that allowed us to get out in transition to get some easy buckets in the second and third quarter.”
Junior Cam Johnston came off the bench during the game and had nine points, including a three-ball.
“Cam Johnston came off the bench and had seven points in the first half,” Barker said. “That kind of got us going offensively, so he was a nice spark off the bench.”
The Harvesters were led in scoring by the Alonzo brothers. Junior Jose Alonzo had 19 points with a three; Senior Julian Alonzo had 14 points with a three and went 1-2 in free throws; freshman Talan Garcia had three points and went 1-2 in free throws; Junior Conner Hall had a three-pointer; Juniors Tristan Bagwell and Parker Webb each had a bucket. The Harvesters shot 2-5 in free throws.
The Harvesters return to action at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 25 at Plainview. What are the Harvesters’ plans with the little bit of an extended break between games? Rest and recovery.
“Holiday games are always tough. We had some guys out with sickness last night, so being open on Friday actually comes at a good time,” Barker said.
“Plainview is very solid this year, and it is always a tough place to play. It will be a good game for us heading into Thanksgiving Break. The guys that played football have been going very hard since August, so it will be nice to give them some days off to recover a little bit and come back ready to attack at tournament time.”
