Posted: Sat, 6 Mar 2010 07:04 AM - 11,287 Readers

By: Miguel A. Castro

If only wins were based on how much heart one team showed, Gregory-Portland would be playing in today’s Region IV-4A championship.

The Wildcats (27-10) dove for every loose ball, battled for every rebound and hustled on every point until the final seconds ticked away in their regional semifinal match up Friday at Littleton Gym.

Unfortunately, though, poor shooting and a fast start by Lake Travis (32-5) brought G-P’s postseason run to a screeching halt in a 70-44 loss.

“It’s just the G-P way,” senior forward Ryne Kinney said. “Our tradition is to never give up. We just didn’t make the shots we should have.”

Shots that put the Wildcats in a pretty big hole they struggled to dig themselves out of.

G-P finished a dismal 5-for-30 from the 3-point line compared to Lake Travis’ 6-for-13. The Wildcats’ free throw shooting was a little better as they were 9-of-11.

The game opened at a slow pace as both teams were held scoreless for nearly three minutes until Kinney’s layup and 3-pointer gave G-P a 5-0 lead.

But Zach Karczewski’s basket shortly after sparked an 11-0 Cavaliers’ run the Wildcats were never able to recover from.

“We just didn’t shoot the ball well,” G-P coach Mark Spencer said. “We had our looks and ran the offense the way we should have. They gave us the shots, but we just didn’t make them. Once we got down, the basket got tighter.”

Despite heading into the second quarter only down six, 13-7, G-P remained in a double-digit deficit for the remainder of the contest.

By the start of the final period, Lake Travis held an 18-point advantage before cruising to victory.

Kinney and Nate Velasco led the Wildcats with 10 points each with Kyle Fishbeck adding 9.

The Cavaliers will face the winner of Friday’s other late regional semifinal contest between Kerrville Tivy (29-5) and San Antonio Harlandale (24-11) at 1 p.m. today for a trip to the state semifinals.

“I’m so proud of our team,” Kinney said . “We played hard all season long and to come this far and lose to the No. 6 team in the state is not a bad way to go out.”

*  Story Contributed by: Miguel A. Castro