WOLFFORTH — Frenship finally finished one off, and in doing so extended its hopes of making the playoffs.

Zach Kittley scored 20 points, Aaron Pool added 16 points, including five during a key stretch to start the third quarter, and the Tigers got big defensive stops and hit key free throws down the stretch to hold off San Angelo Lake View 60-54 Friday night at the Tiger Pit.

The win helped improve Frenship’s positioning in the District 4-4A standings. The Tigers (12-15, 2-4 in 4-4A), by virtue of the win, were able to pull to within a half game of the Chiefs (14-10, 2-2) for third place and a game behind Abilene Cooper (14-14, 3-3) for second. But with Plainview’s win over Cooper, the Tigers remained in fifth, a half game behind the Bulldogs (17-11, 2-3) out of the postseason picture.

Frenship's Aaron Pool, center, scores between San Angelo Lake View's Matt Hummingbird, left, Bryan Dressler, center, and Rico Muro, Friday at the Tiger Pit in Frenship. Frenship won 60-54. Friday, Feb. 05, 2010 (Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Frenship's Aaron Pool, center, is fouled while shooting between San Angelo Lake View's Matt Hummingbird, left, and Rico Muro, Friday at the Tiger Pit in Frenship. Frenship won 60-54. Friday, Feb. 05, 2010 (Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Frenship'sZach Kittley tips in a rebound above San Angelo Lake View's Bryan Dressler, left, J.D. Smith, center, and Nathan Tanguma, Friday at the Tiger Pit in Frenship. Frenship won 60-54. Friday, Feb. 05, 2010 (Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

“We really needed that game to help us get back and have a chance to make the playoffs,” head coach Jason Dear said. “I was proud of them when we got down two in the fourth we finally kind of calmed down a little bit and wound up getting a lead and maintaining it.”

With two tough games left against Cooper and first-place Big Spring, the road to end the season won’t be any easier, but at lest the Tigers can go into the final 11/2 weeks of the regular season with some confidence. So many times this season Frenship had led or been tied in the fourth quarter, only to come up short.

On Friday, however the Tigers found a way to get a late lead and hang on to it.

“Our defense stepped up in the second half, and our offense started making more shots and just getting after it,” Pool said. “Our defense has played good in the first half but toward the end of games we’ve always kind of fallen apart.”

Trailing 56-52, Lake View pulled to within a bucket on a putback by Jamar Thompson with 1:55 remaining in the game. Dear called a timeout 10 seconds later to calm his team down, and the move worked.

Lake View never scored again, committing three turnovers on its final four possessions. Frenship took advantage by doing something at which it has struggled — hitting free throws. Tyler Rogers hit two big ones with 31.4 seconds left to extend the lead back to four, then Isaac Portillo and Kittley hit the front ends of two-shot opportunities to put the game out of reach.

“I felt like when they would score on one end we would come down and match it, and that hasn’t always been happening for us,” Dear said. “What happens is we get a good look and miss, but once we got a lead if they ever got into it we were able to finish on the other end and maintain the lead.”

Frenship opened the game hitting almost everything it put up, taking a 14-6 lead on a pair of Pool free throws at the 2:49 mark of the first quarter, and Rogers hit a 3-pointer to close the first half for an 18-13 Tigers lead.

Frenship maintained that lead late into the second quarter when Pool converted a three-point play at the 2:08 mark to put the Tigers up 27-22. But the Chiefs closed the half on a 9-2 run, and Nathan Tanguma’s layup with one second left put Lake View up 31-29 going into the intermission, but more importantly, helped the Chiefs wrestle momentum away from the Tigers.

Just as quickly, Pool pried it away from Lake View. He hit a layup to open the third quarter, then hit a short jumper off a steal and a free throw to put the Tigers up 36-32. Marquis Johnson hit a short jumper to push the lead to 36-32 with 5:31 left in the third.

“Our coach put the pressure on us that we had to win this game,” Pool said. “I just decided I had to step it up at that time.”

Lake View, however, scored five straight points to regain the lead, and from there it was a back-and-forth game, with Rico Muro putting the Chiefs up 46-44 on a layup heading into the fourth quarter.

But the Tigers scored four straight to open the final period, and the Tigers never trailed again, taking the lead for good on a layup by Chas Quisenberry with 3:44 left in the contest.

J.D. Smith led the Chiefs with 12 points of the bench, and Muro added 11.

“I think we’ve been waiting for something like this,” Dear said. “It’s been here all year long and we just seemed like we could never get over that hump. Hopefully this will carry us through the last two games.”

FRENSHIP 60, SAN ANGELO LAKE VIEW 54
SAN ANGELO LAKE VIEW — Jimenez 1 0-0 3, Tanguma 1 0-0 2, Smith 3 5-8 12, Muro 4 3-6 11, Resendez 0 0-0 0, Hummingbird 3 0-0 7, Dressler 2 0-2 4, Garcia 3 2-4 8, Thompson 1 0-0 2, Carson 2 1-3 5, Rendon 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 11-21 54.
FRENSHIP — Britton 0 0-1 0, Christian 1 0-0 2, Pool 5 6-12 16, Quisenberry 3 1-2 7, Nichols 1 1-2 3, Godfrey 1 0-1 2, Huey 1 2-2 4, Kittley 8 4-6 20, Rogers 1 2-3 4, Portillo 0 1-2 1. Totals 21 17-31 60.
SA Lake View 13 18 15 8 — 54
Frenship 18 11 15 16 — 60
3-point goals: SA Lake View 3 (Jimenez, Smith, Hummingbird); Frenship 1 (Rogers). Total fouls: SA Lake View 29, Frenship 18. Fouled out: SA Lake View, Dressler, Garcia, Thompson; Frenship, Nichols. Technical fouls: none. Records: SA Lake View 14-10, 2-3; Frenship 12-15, 2-4.