Cedar Park Holds on to defeat San Antonio's Lanier

By Danny Davis

SAN ANTONIO — And then there was one.

Dylan Cox scored 22 points and Cedar Park managed to avoid a late collapse in a 45-41 victory over San Antonio Lanier. The regional semifinal victory — coupled with Friday losses by Bastrop and Jarrell — leaves Cedar Park as the only Central Texas team left standing in the UIL boys basketball playoffs.

"It's beautiful," Cox said. "This team worked so hard. We've been underdogs, they think we can't do it.
"We've been surprising people, we're playing our hearts out."

Cedar Park scored on its first two possessions of the game, as Cox scored 14 seconds into the first quarter and then fed Spencer Drango for a basket that gave the Timberwolves a 4-0 lead. Lanier struggled offensively in the first quarter, shooting 2 of 12 from the field.

The Timberwolves only missed three shots in the opening eight minutes, but five turnovers forced them to head into the second quarter with just a 12-8 advantage.

Cox posted eight points, two blocks and an assist in the second quarter to lift Cedar Park to a 26-14 halftime lead over a Lanier team that made just two baskets and two free throws in the second frame.
Cedar Park led by as many as 12 points in the second half but a strong showing by Lanier in the fourth quarter put the Timberwolves on the ropes.

Lanier twice cut the lead to two points in the final quarter, and a long three-pointer from Joe Louis Gonzales got the Voks within 43-41 with 1:02 left.

Cedar Park managed to kill some time on its ensuing possession, but a turnover by junior Jordan Lachowsky with 20.1 seconds remaining gave Lanier one last chance. Gonzales missed a decent-looking three-point attempt, and Daniel Cruz was unable to score after grabbing the offensive rebound.

Drango corralled the rebound off of Cruz's miss, and his two free throws with .2 seconds left sealed the game.

"It's just a poise thing. That pressure got to us," Cox said. "We'll fix it tomorrow."

Cedar Park advances to play Boerne Champion in today's Class 4A, Region IV championship game.
The opening tip at the Blossom Center is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Cedar Park 45, SA Lanier 41

	1	2	3	4	OT	T
SA Lanier	8	6	10	17	—	41
Cedar Park	12	14	8	11	—	45

LHS: Lopez 13, DeLeon 17, Cruz 3, Sanchez 2, Gonzales 6
CPHS: Coz 22, Drango 11, Allen 4, Guebert 4, Xia 2, Cleaves 2