Time stands still as Lions win

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Lion basketball continued their impressive run through the first round of district play with a 58-56 win over Tarkington Tuesday in Livingston.

For the second consecutive Lion home game, a district contest came down to the final minute, with similar circumstances. With a tie game, Tarkington held the ball, allowing the clock to wind down. A traveling call got the ball back to Livingston. With just 4.6 seconds remaining, the ball was inbounded to Cory Dirden. After a few dribbles, he lifted a runner at the top of the key that went in.

However, the clock never started. After a meeting of officials, they counted a two-point bucket and put 1.5 seconds back on the clock.

Video shows that Dirden’s shot was actually a 3-pointer and left his fingers at a point between three and four seconds, and that there would not have been any time remaining after the ball passed through the net. 

With the last ticks, the Longhorns tossed a pass beyond half court that could not be controlled, and the unsuccessful shot attempt occurred after the buzzer.

“The overall – without equal – you want that fight to the finish with no quit,” Livingston coach Sean Berry said. “It was a dogfight, which district ball games always should be.”

The game started as a series of runs in the first half. After the Lions scored the first six points of the contest, Tarkington answered with 10 consecutive of their own. Livingston then went on a 10-2 run, and had as much as a 13-point advantage in the second quarter. Yet, Tarkington closed that to a one-point difference at half.

“We did not play as well as we could,” Berry said. “There were a lot of dumb passes, I think. Getting in traffic, it takes almost a Zen-like quality to maintain your focus. I think one of the things we're going to have to work on is getting into traffic and making passes out of traffic. Or, to just avoid it altogether.”

Dirden led the home team with 19 points, while Ziekus Garner had 16 that were all collected in the first half, and T.J. Garner had 10.

Livingston is 4-1 in District 19-4A after the win. They are tied with Hamshire-Fannett for second place behind Huffman Hargrave. Tarkington falls to 2-3 in district action.

“There is going to be a dogfight for second and third,” the coach said. “I think Huffman is too experienced and know each other so well. They've done so well with one another for so long that they are going to be tough to beat. Can it be done? Yes, but you're going to have to have a stellar night.”

The Lions will face a high hurdle Friday, traveling to Hamshire-Fannett. The Longhorns fell just four points short of Huffman Hargrave Tuesday.