For at least one night, Houston Tigers coach Brent Hall said Ava was the better team.
The Bears used a quick 7-0 run late in the fourth quarter to create some breathing room in a back-and-forth game and beat the Tigers 63-54 Tuesday night inside Hiett Gymnasium.
The loss snapped a season-best six-game winning streak for Houston, which hadn’t lost since a 52-45 setback Jan. 18 to Doniphan.
“They were the better team tonight. There’s no getting around it,” Tigers coach Brent Hall said. “They beat us in a lot of ways. We had some individuals play well but team wise, they were better than us.”
The defeat may loom large in the district seedings, which were announced Wednesday night. Hall said he believes Ava will be the top seed, and the Tigers may be anywhere from the second to fourth seed.
Houston (10-10) was previously unbeaten against district opponents before losing to Ava.
“I hope to get the two (seed), but this team will play anybody,” Hall said. “You have to play tough teams all the way through it, so it really doesn’t matter where we get seeded. We’ll take whatever draw we get and go at it.”
Houston only trailed 51-49 when freshman Weston Walker drilled a 3-pointer from the left baseline with 4 minutes, 37 seconds left in the game. But Ava answered with seven straight points as the Tigers went more than three minutes without scoring.
Senior Jesse Setters, who hit four 3-pointers to score 12 of Houston’s first 18 points, led the Tigers with 17. Kyle Poynter scored 16.
Playing its first home game in 31 days, Houston led 10-5 early and had a 28-27 advantage on Walker’s steal and left-handed layin in the final seconds of the first half.
Ava, which led 29-28 at halftime, went on a quick 9-0 run at the beginning of the third quarter to take a 38-30 lead and never trailed again.
On Friday, Poynter led three players in double figures with 25 points in a 62-54 victory at Cabool.
Sophomore Curry Van Horn hit five 3-pointers en route to 18 points for Houston, which led by 11 entering the fourth quarter. Setters added 11 points.
The victory pushed the Tigers over the .500 mark for the first time this season. They were 4-9 before a six-game winning streak.
JUNIOR VARSITY: Lucas Cooperman scored eight points and Jacob Kelly added seven in the JV Tigers’ 43-28 loss Tuesday to Ava.
Kelly had two 3-pointers and Kevin Dunn, who scored five points, added another.
On Friday, Kelly had 12 points and Rodney Preheim scored in a 42-39 victory at Cabool.
Cooperman added nine points and Dunn scored eight.
Box scores
VARSITY
Tuesday’s game
Ava 15 14 15 19 — 63
Houston 15 13 11 15 — 54
AVA — Wendler 7 5-9 19. Shelton 3 2-2 9. Schnieder 1 2-2 4. Gastineau 4 0-0 8. ZLeonard 0 2-2 2. Mitchell 5 1-2 13. PLeonard 4 0-0 8. Totals 24 11-17 63.
HOUSTON (10-10) — Van Horn 1 0-0 3. KyPoynter 5 6-8 16. Setters 6 0-0 17. Walker 3 1-1 8. KaPoynter 3 0-0 6. CScheets 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 7-9 54.
3-pointers: Ava 3 (Mitchell 2, Shelton); Houston 7 (Setters 5, Van Horn, Walker).
Friday’s game
Houston 16 14 19 13 — 62
Cabool 13 13 12 16 — 54
HOUSTON (10-9) — Van Horn 5 3-4 18. KyPoynter 8 7-12 25. Setters 2 6-6 11. KaPoynter 2 1-2 5. CScheets 1 0-0 2. JScheets 0 1-4 1. Totals 18 18-28 62.
CABOOL — Wilson 5 0-1 11. Baker 5 1-2 12. Stoutenborough 5 4-5 16. Holmes 2 0-0 5. Eagleman 3 2-2 10. Totals 20 7-10 54.
3-pointers: Houston 8 (Van Horn 5, KyPoynter 2, Setters); Cabool 7 (Stoutenborough 2, Eagleman 2, Wilson, Baker).
JUNIOR VARSITY
Tuesday’s game
Ava 8 15 12 8 — 43
Houston 7 12 5 4 — 28
HOUSTON — Preheim 2 0-0 4. Dunn 1 2-2 5. Ashworth 1 0-0 2. Kelly 3 1-1 7. Cooperman 3 0-0 8. Walker 1 0-0 2. Totals 11 3-3 28.
3-pointers: Cooperman 2, Dunn.
Saturday’s game
Houston 14 6 12 10 — 42
Cabool 9 13 8 9 — 39
HOUSTON — Preheim 5 1-4 11. Dunn 3 0-0 8. Smith 1 0-0 2. Kelly 3 4-4 12. Cooperman 4 0-0 9. Totals 16 5-9 42.
3-pointers: Dunn 2, Kelly 2.