Class 4A No. 5-ranked Austin Lake Travis took advantage of Temple’s inconsistencies - namely mental lapses and cold shooting - and blew past the Wildcats 56-40 on Friday afternoon in a first-round game of the Hill Country Classic, hosted by the Cavaliers.
The Wildcats (4-5) have dropped three straight games after opening by winning four of their first six.
“We have some guys who some games they’re on the right page and others are on a different page,” first-year coach Tim Thomas said. “They’re improving and they’re gettting better. To beat a team like that, you have to have everybody clicking together.
“We’ve got some work to do.”
The Wildcats had trouble against the Cavaliers on both ends.
Forward Jordan Jahr, who scored a game-high 21 points, sliced his way for easy layups and was left open for 3-point shots. Guard Cole Vucurevich, the Cavaliers’ other double-digit scorer with 12, also routinely beat the Wildcats in transition.
After hitting just one of their first nine shots, the Cavaliers heated up to make 45 percent the rest of the way. That stretch started when Lake Travis took the lead for good midway through the first quarter with a 13-1 run.
Lake Travis shot 38 percent for the game and committed just nine turnovers against a Temple defense that averaged forcing more than 20 per game.
What hurt Temple just as much were its offensive woes.
The Wildcats went just more than eight minutes without a field goal in the first half and saw what had been a 6-2 advantage early in the first quarter turn into a 20-7 deficit in the second thanks to turnovers and poor shots that led to easy Cavalier baskets.
For the game, Temple shot 29 percent from the field, making just five field goals in the second half.
The Wildcats trailed by as many as 16 points and cut the deficit to 10 three times but never got any closer.
Guard D.J. Wright scored a team-high 17 points as the only Wildcat in double figures. He knocked down four 3-pointers and was fouled shooting another.
“We did some good things and we did some things not so good,” Thomas said. “I feel like we’re still making progress.”
Temple played San Antonio Reagan on Friday evening.
rschneider@temple-telegram.com
