Published: December 30, 2008 11:14 pm      

Hornets drop close contest to Oak Ridge

Irving knocks down three 3-pointers in 55-52 loss at Conroe tourney

A day after splitting a pair of games at the Conroe tournament, the Huntsville boys basketball team dropped a 55-52 heartbreaker to Oak Ridge at Porter Gym on Tuesday.

With five seconds to go and trailing by three, the Hornets (9-7) had a chance to tie the game, but Huntsville couldn’t get off a shot thanks to a solid defensive effort by Oak Ridge.

“The story of the game and what I told the guys was that the loss was my fault,” Hornets head coach Larry Carlson said. “We didn’t do our trapping defense because I felt Oak Ridge was a well-coached team and had some good outside shooters. If we trapped then that would have left some guys open. I misjudged Oak Ridge and by the time we started trapping, it was too late.”

Senior Marcus Irving led the Hornets with 15 points and hit three 3-pointers. Senior Justin Ennis added 13 points and junior Marvin Dunbar finished with seven. Senior Andrew Nichols and junior Justin Gilbert each scored six, while junior Jeremy LeDay and senior George Perry chipped in three and two points, respectively.

Carlson also said that seniors Tabias McGowan and Lonny Lipscomb played well defensively for Huntsville in the second half.

“I held the reigns back on them today and didn’t let them run and gun,” Carlson added. “I tried to use the tournament to run our offense with district beginning Friday. Today was good for us even though we lost. The kids played hard, and we got some things ironed out. We will be ready for Waller.”

The Hornets open District 18-4A action on the road at Waller on Friday at 7:30 p.m.