By Bobby Allen

SDN Sports Editor

The Tigers aren’t going down without a fight.

Snyder gave District 3-3A runner-up Denver City all it could handle Saturday, fighting back from a big deficit in a 56-44 loss to the Mustangs, in a weather-delayed game from Friday.

“I thought we battled,” head coach Bud Birks said. “(The Mustangs) are a big, athletic team and they can shoot. We just made too many mistakes against the press.”

Trailing by as many as 19, the Tigers went on an 8-0 run towards the end of the third quarter to pull within 12. Denver City pushed the lead back to 15, before Lee Scott was fouled on a three-pointer and converted the four-point play.

Scott had a game-high 22 points, including 15 from behind the arc, while Denver City’s massive Ryan Ochesky banked in 18.

Because of the weather delay, the teams played just the varsity tilt, allowing Birks to insert some junior varsity players into the mix.

“I thought there was some promise. They needed to see that it’s a step up -- the players are bigger and faster and you have to play a lot tougher. We had some of them really compete,” he said.

Barrett Bowlin and Chris Smith both got their first varsity points in the game, while sophomore Lico Castillo drained 10.

Isaac Ramon and Garret Pinson each added four for the Tigers, who shot 55 percent from the foul line.

Denver City (23-8, 7-2) was 14 of 20 from the line in a game that saw a lot of contact in the paint.

“Whenever you play them, you have to be physical and get after it,” Birks said.

The Tigers (8-22, 0-9) close out the season at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday against Seminole at Tiger Gym.

Seminole (12-15, 3-6) remains mathematically alive in the race for the final district playoff slot, despite falling to Sweetwater Saturday, 49-48.

Sweetwater (14-11, 4-5) will travel to Merkel (26-4, 9-0) to take on the district champion Badgers, while Lamesa (12-17, 4-5) can clinch a playoff spot with a win at Denver City.

Should Seminole beat Snyder and Merkel and Denver City win their games, there will be a three-way tie for third place in the district between Seminole, Sweetwater and Lamesa.

No tiebreakers are evident, as Lamesa was swept by Seminole but beat Sweetwater both times this year, meaning some type of playoff for the final spot will be necessary.