The Early Longhorns yielded the game’s first nine points and weren’t able to dig themselves out of the hole as they dropped their final contest in the TexasBank Holiday Classic, 59-45, to the Wall Hawks Friday night at Brownwood High School.
Early (9-9) finished with a 1-3 tournament record, falling to Abilene Wylie, Brownwood and Wall after opening the event with a win over Brady.
In Friday night’s finale, the Longhorns trailed 17-6 after one quarter, 35-23 at halftime, and 53-36 through three periods.
During the fourth quarter, Early held Wall scoreless for the first 5:58 of the period, allowing the Longhorns to creep within 53-42. But Wall’s Everson Armstrong – who led all scorers with 29 points – ended the Hawks’ scoreless drought with 2:02 left and wrestled the momentum away from Early.
Armstrong scored 14 of Wall’s 17 first-quarter points, while Augden Hallmark chipped in 11 points for the game trailed by Ryan Dusek with six, and Dane Reynolds and Logan Thomas with five each.
For Early, Jeremy Brown led the charge with 14 points followed by Colton Allen with 11, Rohyn Price with seven, Kamden Gamblin with six, and John Hill, Andrew Catan and Dalton Adams with two points each.
The Longhorns resume District 8-3A action at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday as they welcome Peaster.
