BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

There was a definite scare thrown into the defending Class 2A boy state champions, but the Golden Arrows are still pointing up.

Lavaca moved its winning to 19 on Tuesday with a 58-56 overtime win over Sloan Hendrix.

The Golden Arrows (32-4) were pushed to the limit by the Greyhounds (27-4), but Lavaca head coach Reener Reed knew it was coming.

“We played a really good team,”  Reed said. “Sloan Hendrix had been ranked number one most of the season, but happen to get upset in regional and fell to four seed so we knew that it was going to be a tough challenge for us.

“It was a great game for us. I thought both teams played extremely hard and executed really well and we just happen to make plays down the stretch and make free throws down the stretch to find a way to end the game. That’s what the state tournament is all about.”

Lavaca will continue its quest to repeat Thursday night at 8:30 as it battles host Rector (25-6), who beat Acorn 74-43 on Wednesday.

Rector will have the home court advantage.

“They’ll have it rocking,” Reed said. “…But I feel like our strength is team defense. I think that is an advantage once you get into the state tournament. Your offense is not always going to be there, but the defense is going to travel with you.”

The Golden Arrows went 35-2 last season and won the school’s first state basketball title with a 50-34 win over Magnet Cove.

There are several familiar faces that took expanded roles this season.

“We lost four starters that were really good kids and really good players and replaced them with four really good kids and four really good players,” Reed said. “We’ve been blessed and lucky enough to have some good players come through here in back-to-back years.

“Our seniors have been very steady all year and we start five seniors. One thing we have an advantage over other teams here is that they have seen it, experienced it and they know it is not about one kid scoring a lot of points, but all of us doing our job at a very high level.

“Our character and our leadership are really good here.”