By Bobby Allen

SDN Sports Editor

The Snyder Tigers battled back from an early hole Friday, but could not mount enough to make it up late in a 48-42 loss to Lamesa.

The loss was the eighth straight for the Tigers (8-20, 0-8), which gave all they could muster against a Lamesa club still in the playoff hunt.

The Tigers fell behind by as many as 13 in the first half, before outscoring Lamesa (11-16, 3-4) over the final three quarters.

With the win, the Golden Tors pulled into a three-way tie for the final playoff spot in district with Sweetwater and Seminole.

“We put ourselves in a come-from-behind position early and tried to come back,” said head coach Bud Birks. “We had to put the quickest tea m out there. We came back and battled.”

Lee Scott canned 23 points, including a steal and a lay-up in the final two minutes to get the Tigers within four at 39-35.

After Lamesa pushed it to six with one minute left, the Tigers missed three free throws down the stretch and were forced to foul in the waning seconds.

Neither team had much success from the charity stripe, with Snyder hitting just 7-of-17 and Lamesa making just 7-of-16.

Lico Castillo knocked in eight points, Austin Hatfield added five, Isaac Ramon drained four and Garrett Pinson contributed two points and aggressive defense for the Tigers, who will take on district-leading Merkel at 8 Tuesday night on the Badger’s home court.

The junior varsity Tigers came back in the final moments against Lamesa Friday to grab a 42-38 victory and improve to 5-2 in district play.