No. 24 Steers face speedy Snyder team

January 21, 2011

HERALD Photo/Tony Claxton - Tristian Clay and the No. 24 Big Spring Steers take on Snyder at 7:30 p.m. today in Steer Gym. The Lady Steers play at 6 p.m.

Big Spring center Devante Lloyd applied one of the sayings from football head coach Phillip Ritchey to the Steers’ basketball season so far.

“Coach Ritchey once said ‘Once you catch fire, there’s no telling how far you’ll go,’” Lloyd said. “So that’s the way I see it. We have two wins in district so we caught fire. We’re just going to keep going from there.”

How on fire are the Steers? It’s early, but they’re 2-0 in District 5-3A play and ranked No. 24 in the state according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches’ rankings.

That might add a little extra incentive for Snyder to steal a win tonight from the Steers at 7:30 p.m. in Steer Gym.

The funny thing about the ranking, though,is while it came out earlier this week, head coach Cliff Thompson didn’t tell his team until Thursday’s practice.

Thompson said his players deserve recognition and he’s proud the Steers showed up in the rankings, but he admitted he likes flying under the radar and got used to it.

Snyder almost knock off Abilene Wylie in its last game, losing by two to the Bulldogs. Thompson said Snyder is not a team that should be overlooked. The Tigers have tremendous speed and a winning pedigree.

“Those athletes, they expect to win,” he said. “They expect to win at whatever they do, so they’re going to come in and be scrappy. We’re going to have to bring our A-game and play like we have been the last two games.”

But Thompson expects a tough game tonight and knows the more the Steers win at this point, the more attention they’ll get.

He said he understand Big Spring will have a target on it’s back as district play continues.

“I think so,” Thompson said. “Especially with the way we’ve beaten Brownwood in Brownwood, it definitely kind of put a target in our backs for district. Us going to their place and beating, right off the bat,I think that got a lot of people’s attention.”

Big Spring girls
The Big Spring Lady Steers play Snyder at 6 p.m. today in Steer Gym. At 0-3in district play, the Lady Steers hope to stop the bleeding in hopes of knocking off Snyder. The Lady Steers have lost to Wylie, Brownwood and Sweetwater in district play so far.