THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Levelland High School Athletics

His team having been the victor in their last two meetings, Seminole coach David Williams feels like the pressure is on the Indians boys basketball squad when they take on Levelland for a third time this season. No. 10 Seminole beat its fellow District 3-4A opponent in mid-January and early February, but Williams preached not underestimating the Lobos. That has been the emphasis leading into the two teams’ 6:30 p.m. tip-off Tuesday in a Class 4A regional quarterfinal at the Rip Griffin Center. “When you beat somebody twice, the hardest thing to do is beat them three times,” said Williams, whose team is 23-8. “That is one of the things that we realized. Sometimes in the psyche of a high school kid, they think all they have to do is show up. ... We keep telling the kids that Levelland is going to give us their best shot and we are going to have to make sure we are completely ready to play and it’s not a given.” In most cases, having seen a future opponent twice before bodes well for either team involved. That won’t necessarily be the case for the Indians. “The thing that I have figured out about Levelland is you never know what you are going to see,” Williams said. “I know (Lobo coach Jeff Bontrager) does a great job. Everything from who they start to the defense they run, it seems to change every time we play them. One thing we know is we have to be ready for whatever hurdles he throws at us.” That being said, Seminole’s first meeting with Levelland (23-10) was too close for comfort. The Indians scraped by the Lobos 50-45 on Jan. 19, but the second game wasn’t so close as Seminole won the rematch 58-47 on Feb. 6. Levelland has a shot at exacting some revenge and continuing its season, but the Indians provide their own set of hurdles. It becomes immediately apparent what makes Seminole a hard team to match up against. “They have a tremendous amount of size for a high school basketball team,” Bontrager said. “They are very long at the guard. Their strength is getting the ball inside and scoring in the paint. ... We are going to have to contend with that.” The Indians have at least seven athletes well over 6-foot on their roster, one of whom is 6-foot-6 Texas signee Reese Moore at power forward. Seminole will be without starting guard and West Point signee Cade Barnard, who injured his hand earlier this year, but has depth coming off the bench.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Levelland High School Athletics

SEMINOLE, LEVELLAND MEET FOR THIRD TIME THIS SEASON

BRYAN NAVARETTE

Lubbock Online | 2/27/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Brad Tollefson