Flower wins on the road, led by sophomore Caleb Lohner

Southlake - The Flower Mound Jaguars (21-8/9-3) stepped onto the Southlake Carroll Dragons (24-6/8-4) home court tied for second in District 5-6A, and the Jags came away with a 66-48 victory on the Dragons Senior Night. Both teams entered the game tied with an 8-3 record in district while chasing down frontrunner Lewisville Hebron.

Flower Mound was led by sophomore, 6-foot-7 forward Caleb Lohner. Lohner finished with a game-high 21 points off a 9-16 performance from the field.

Prior to the opening tip, the Southlake seniors were honored and with their ceremony behind them, the Dragons fed off the emotions to lead 13-10 after the first quarter. -But after the first eight minutes of play, Flower Mound went on a 13-2 run to give them the lead, 23-15. The Dragons pulled within one, 23-22, after a 7-0 run of their own, but the Dragons would never regain the lead.

At the half, Flower Mound took a two-point lead into the locker room, 27-25, and came out in the third and gained a comfortable lead heading into the fourth, 44-32. By the end of the game, the Jags pushed their lead to nearly 20 and took the game by 18 points.

Lohner was joined by three teammates who hit double digits. Senior guard Ben Hanley went for 11, while sophomore wing Jeffrey Mills totaled 10, and senior guard, Barrett Harms chipped in with 10 of his own.

Southlake’s senior guard Stephen Blomstrom had a team-high 19 points on a 7-17 night. He hit two three-pointers and dished out four assists.

Also reaching double figures for the Dragons was senior forward Jack McBride who scored 11.

Head Flower Mound coach, Eric Littleton gave all the credit to his team, but in a classy move, Littleton praised the Southlake Dragons head coach, Eric McDade for the job he has done this year with his team.

“I have to begin by giving tremendous credit to coach McDade, he has my vote for Coach of the Year in our district,” stated Littleton. “He has gotten more out of his kids than anyone out of this district. Coach McDade has taken his team and gotten them to buy into what he wants them to do. He has gotten his players to accept their role and produce.”

With the win Tuesday night, Flower Mound increases their winning streak to five and stays one game behind Hebron (10-2) with two games left in the season.

“I am proud of our players,” Littleton said. “We took care of the ball, we made extra passes and got the ball into the post a lot for some easy buckets off the glass. And we played really good defensively.”

The Dragons went a dismal 5-31 from behind the arc that led to long rebounds in favor of the Jaguars.

“We wanted to wear down their legs and that was part of the game plan,” explains Littleton. “We knew they were going to come out and shoot the three, and we wanted to work through our offense and make them play defense to take away their legs on their offensive end.

“We also created some mismatches in the paint with our size and quickness and that definitely assisted in our win.”

During the past five years Littleton said that Flower Mound and Hebron have split in district play and they are looking for some help in the next two games (Friday and Tuesday) for someone to knockoff Hebron. Flower Mound is looking for a share of the District 5-6A title. Flower Mound faces Lewisville High (1-11) on he road and wrap up district play at home on Tuesday versus Byron Nelson (7-5).

Lohner went inside out and hit two big three-pointers in the early stages of the second quarter as the Jags were making their run. Lohner was a tough matchup as he utilized his strength and power inside and produced from the perimeter with a soft touch. Lohner gets on the boards and defends.

Mills is an intriguing prospect. He is long and plays hard every position. He made plays against Southlake that turned into a bucket or a defensive stop. Mills is a stat filler with his ability to grab rebounds, handle the ball in the open court and find the open man, hit the 15-footer and stroke the long ball.