Up 25-15 at the half, the Bauxite Miners lost their second straight 7-4A Conference game 45-44 to the Fountain Lake Cobras Tuesday at Fred Dawson Gym. The Miners are now 9-5, 2-2 in conference play.
“We came out of the second half really flat,” Bauxite Coach Andy Brakebill said. “In a nutshell, our kids as a team have to understand we’re not good enough to just go out there and not play as hard as we can night in and night out. We did OK in the first half with that, but not to where we needed to be.
The Miners were up 44-41 with about two minutes left before the Cobras hit a big three and Bauxite went 0 for 2 from the free throw line with a chance to take the lead, or at least tie it.
“They had a couple kids hitting threes and we weren’t getting out there to contest them,” Brakebill said. “We were just letting them shoot it.
“These guys have to understand if they have any kind of dreams and aspirations to advance in conference and regionals, they’re going to have to bring it every night. If they don’t, their season will be over in a month."
Cobras bite Bauxite
The Bauxite Lady Miners got off to a horrible start in their 7-4A Conference game against the visiting Fountain Lake Lady Cobras Tuesday at Fred Dawson Gym in Bauxite. Down 15-3 after one quarter, the Lady Miners would fight back in the second quarter, but would eventually fall 51-43 to the Lady Cobras.
“They played really well,” Bauxite Coach Cody Lambert said of Fountain Lake. “I was impressed by the way they played – one of the best games they’ve played all year.
“Unfortunately we had an off night. Didn’t shoot it very well. Defensively, we made a lot of mistakes, but credit that to Fountain Lake. They’re a good veteran basketball team. If we made a mistake, they took advantage of it.”
The Lady Miners (10-7, 2-2) snapped a four-game win streak, but fought back in the second quarter to make it an 18-14 halftime deficit. The two teams played even in the third quarter with the Lady Cobras leading 29-25 going into the fourth, but Fountain Lake outscored Bauxite 22-18 in the final quarter.