With a challenging district slate looming, Fort Stockton put forth their best shooting game of the season and gained some valuable momentum to close their non-district home schedule on Tuesday against 1A Fort Davis.

Senior Ethan Acosta scored a season-high 13 points and converted two of the Panthers’ seven 3-pointers to lead his team to a 67-41 win.

“When Ethan is confident, he can shoot it with the best of them,” Roberson said.  “I tell all my shooters that. If you’re a shooter, shoot. I give you a green light for a reason.”

Fort Stockton was all gas and no brakes after the first minute of play. Roberson’s unit fell behind 2-0 after the opening tip then surged to a 10-2 lead three minutes into the game.

The Panthers led by as many as 15 points in the first half and took their biggest lead of the game at 57-24 with under a minute to play in the third quarter.

Roberson noted his team’s fresh legs following a 15-day hiatus since their last game, which featured five practices over Christmas break.

“Now we’re able to have our legs under us and we can play how we want to play,” he said. “I told our boys just do what we are capable of doing. We played unselfish basketball at times, and we were able to be successful.”

Senior Isaiah Garcia stole the show with a dunk – his fourth of the season – in the third quarter in route to his third double digit scoring performance during the 2022-2023 campaign. Garcia finished with 12 points, marking his second-highest total of the season.

“Isaiah is so fun to coach,” Roberson affirmed. “He’s so raw because he hasn’t played since his freshman year, but he is athletic. You can’t beat his athletic ability.”

Center and power forward Cruz Rojas showed he can stroke it from deep when given the chance, converting two 3-points to finish with nine points – his second-highest total of the season.

Freshman Diego Ronquillo added to the offensive frenzy and proved to be a pesky defender for Indian ballhandlers with multiple steals/pass breakups.

Ronquillo scored the third-highest total on the Panthers with nine points and starting point guard Luis Medina followed with seven.

Fort Stockton’s season record evened to 10-10 with the win. The Panthers will head to Van Horn on Friday, Jan. 6 for their last non-district game of the regular season.