By Scott Reece

Last Wednesday, the Cougars let one get away when they lost a shootout at home against Gretna 78-75.

The game was up and down from the very beginning as the Cougars’ Frankie LaComa hit a 3-pointer at tip off to give the Cougars an early lead. Darius Hagwood’s 3-pointer gave the Cougars a 6-2 lead. Back to back layups by Josh Cockram and LaComa had the Cougars up by six points midway thru the first quarter. Despite a pair of 3-pointers from Jay Penn late in the quarter, the Cougars trailed 23-22 going into thru second quarter.

Both teams scored on their early possessions, but a layup by early in the second quarter by DeAndre Reynolds tied the score at 33-all. LaComa’s steal and layup gave the Cougars a 40-35 lead late, as the Cougars outscored Gretna 9-3 going in the half.

The third quarter was not kind to the Cougars, as a rash of turnovers cost them the lead. Tied at 44-all Gretna scored a pair of 3-pointers to take a six-point lead late in the quarter. Reynolds was fouled scoring a layup and his free throw cut the lead to 47-50. However, the Cougars trailed 49-56 going into the final quarter,

More turnovers by the Cougars helped Gretna extend their lead to 49-62. Following a Cougars’ timeout, Reynolds scored on a designed play, and Hagwood scored on an offensive rebound to make it 53-62. Gretna then went on a 7-2 run before Reynolds scored again. Reynolds’ layup off a Gretna turnover at the one minute mark made it a seven-point game and gave the Cougars hope of a comeback but Gretna hit enough of their free throws to hold off the Cougars—78-75. Reynolds had 21 points for the game, and both Hagwood and LaComa added 11 points.