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Royals Defeat Shorthanded Bears
By Robert Doyen January 11, 2005
 The San Marcos Baptist Academy, playing without it's leading scorer Korda Hill, fell to the St. Gerard Royals 34-44 on Tuesday. Hill chose not to play for personal reasons.
"It always hurts when you lose twenty points a game," said SMBA coach Jason Campbell on Korda's absence.
Without Hill the Bears could only muster five field goals in the first half
The Royals, led by Stephen Herrerra, controlled the offensive glass for most of the game. Herrerra is ranked sixth among San Antonio schools in rebounds per contest.
"We got in foul trouble early, and that eliminated a lot of our post play," said coach Campbell.
Foul trouble for SMBA equaled ample free throw attempts for St. Gerard. The Royals went to the free throw line to score 8 of their 20 first half points while the Bears, who could not match St. Gerard's early intensity, didn't shoot a single free throw in the first two periods.
Down 20-10 at half-time, coach Campbell knew he had to light a fire under his team.
"I let the kids know that we have to get in there and fight for every ball," said Campbell, "We did a lot of watching in the first half instead of crashing the boards."
SMBA played much more enthusiastically in the third quarter, scoring more in that period than they did in the entire first half. They also did a better job rebounding the ball. But they still had yet to shoot a free throw while the Royals went to the line two more times in the quarter.
Guard Zach Ray had an excellent quarter, scoring six of his eight points for the game during a stretch that brought the Bears within four points of St. Gerard. After three quarters the Bears had cut the Royal's lead in half and went into the final period down 25-30.
In the fourth quarter the Bears finally started to go to the free throw line, but could not capitalize as they made only two out of eight from the charity stripe. That combined with a few untimely turnovers and a technical foul called on Zach Ray in the closing minutes spelled the end for the Bears.
"You gotta understand every possession is crucial in a game like this," said Campbell, "One turnover or one technical foul can really turn a game around."
ST. Gerard continued to score as SMBA faltered down the stretch and slowly built their lead back up until the final buzzer sounded off a 44-34 victory for the Royals.
"This was a tough one," said coach Campbell, "We did a lot of good things, but we didn't do enough."
SMBA's next game is on Friday at 7:30 vs. Cornerstone.
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