High school boys basketball: Defense spurs Round Rock past Cedar Ridge and into playoffs
ROUND ROCK — Round Rock had no intention of missing the playoffs this year.
Faced with a crucial game Friday that could have dashed their postseason chances, the Dragons used a dominant defensive showing to throttle Cedar Ridge 56-35 at Round Rock High School and clinch a spot in the postseason from District 25-6A.
Mason Cochran finished with 10 points aand was the only Round Rock player in double figures as 12 Dragons scored.
Round Rock needs to beat Vista Ridge on Tuesday, the final day of the regular season, to avoid being the district’s fourth seed and having to face Lake Travis in the first round of the playoffs.
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Getting defensive
The game showed what Round Rock can be when it’s at its best defensively, and why no team will want to play it in the postseason.
The Dragons held the Raiders to two points in the first quarter and 13 in the first half thanks to an in-your-face effort with a man-to-man defense that would have made former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson proud in the mid-1990s.
“We knew we were going to come into this game hungry, and we came out with an intensity and wanted it more,” said guard Andre Griffin, who finished with eight points. “Everybody was out there hustling, and we’re just really good on defense.”
Leonard Moore, a defensive back in football who recently signed with Notre Dame, might be the best straight-up defender in the Austin area and gives Round Rock coach Travis Levie the luxury of being able to assign him to shadow the opposition’s best guard or wing.
It’s also quite possible that the Dragons get better defensively when they go to their bench.
Few teams can bring players such as Xavier Drumgoole (the reigning Class 6A state triple jump champion, who just signed with Stanford in that sport), Sol Barnett, Justin Lee (a defensive end in football who has an offer from North Texas) and the 6-foot-5 Rowan Mandler in to give the starters a breather.
“I told the guys in the locker room that if we play like that, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to win any game,” Levie said. “We got a couple of guys that are stoppers.”
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Winning when it matters most
Round Rock (19-11, 8-5) suffered three straight close losses that put its season in peril entering this week.
The Dragons edged McNeil 50-46 Tuesday, then blasted the Raiders, who had lost two games in 10 days against the top two teams in the district by a total of three points and were playing for their postseason life.
Though the pressure was on, especially for the seniors, Levie tried to keep things light.
“I texted them last night and said that the most important thing was to have fun,” he said. “Because when we are, that’s what we play like. … We had that dry spell where we lost a lot of close games, but when you get in the playoffs, it’s a one-game series and anything is possible.”
Drumgoole finished with nine points for Round Rock. Peyton Dulin led Cedar Ridge (15-16, 6-7) with 15 points.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Round Rock clinches playoff spot as defense keys win over Cedar Ridge
