On Tuesday, December 9, the Dillos hosted Goldthwaite. This was a rematch of the Championship game of our Tournament December 6th. After a slow starting first quarter for the Dillos, Goldthwaite led 20 – 5. With a little better shooting in the second quarter, the Dillos cut the Eagles lead to 10, trailing 31 -21. After another low scoring 3rd quarter, the Dillos trailed 28- 46 after 3 quarters. In the fourth quarter the Dillos defense stepped up a notch holding Goldthwaite to only 6 points, but we only gained 4 on them and Goldthwaite ended up winning 38 – 52. Our defense has been playing well enough this year to win ball games. We have been struggling with our shooting percentages. Scoring for the Dillos against Goldthwaite: Ross Williams – 13, George Long – 9, J Miles – 5, Hayden Oliver – 4, Braden McBee – 3, Chance Gotcher and Tucker Cromer – 2.

On December 11th, the Armadillos traveled to Cross Plains to play in their annual Christmas Tournament. The Dillos opened with host Cross Plains. The combination of a long bus ride and playing at 8:30 AM took its toll on the Dillos. Cross Plains won the contest 44-42. At the end of one quarter the Dillos led 7 – 6. By the half, we had increased our lead 24 – 17. At the end of the third, the Dillos were ahead 36- 27. During the fourth, Cross Plains outscored the Dillos 17 – 6 and ended up winning the game by two. Offensive production has been our nemesis all year. I think we shot about 26% during this game. Scoring for the Dillos: Ross Williams- 16, Hayden Oliver- 6, Tucker Cromer and George Long- 5, Chase Key, Hector Jimenez, and J Miles – 3, and Chance Gotcher -1.

In the second round of the tournament, the Dillos faced the 14 th ranked Priddy Pirates. Again, we didn’t shoot the ball very well, but we did play better. After trailing 24-33 at the end of three quarters, the Armadillos made a run on Priddy. With full court pressure late in the fourth quarter, the Dillos held the Pirates to two field goals. We cut the lead to four points with about 2 minutes to go in the game. Then we had to start fouling them to get the clock stopped and have a chance to win. The Pirates made eight out of eight from the FT line and we could never gain any ground on them at the end of the game. Scoring for the Dillos: Ross Williams – 15, George Long – 8, Hayden Oliver – 6, Chase Key and J Miles – 3, Hector Jimenez – 2, and Tucker Cromer – 1.

In our Final game of the tournament, the Armadillos faced Ranger. Earlier in the tournament, Ranger lost to Cross Plains (the team we played in round one) by one. We had a much better team effort in this game than we have had all year. One thing that helped tremendously is that we shot the ball much better. The Dillos led 15-4 after one quarter, and never looked back, winning the contest 77-22. I was real proud of our team but a little disappointed because Ranger had lost by one point to the team that beat us by two points in the first round. Scoring for the Dillos: J Miles – 19 and had 5 three pointers, Tucker Cromer – 15, George Long – 12, Ross Williams – 10, Hayden Oliver – 6,Chase Key – 5, Hector Jimenez and Braden McBee – 4, and Chance Gotcher – 2.

When you read this we will have played Sonora on Tuesday, and will travel to Grape Creek tomorrow.