By Daniel Green |  BWS Sports

LAKE CHARLES — With just under three minutes to go, the second-ranked Anacoco Indians were seemingly on their way to the Class B state championship game.

But after both Emanuel Luzardo and Chase Taylor fouled out, that was just enough time for the third-seeded Zwolle Hawks to make a run.

And they did just that.

The Hawks overcame an 11-point deficit, scoring a pair of layups in the final 15 seconds to knock off the Indians in the Class B semifinals in Burton Coliseum on Tuesday night, 38-36.

“”We should have won the game,” Anacoco head coach Randy Carlisle said. “But when we lost those two players to fouls, we just weren’t able to hang on. But I’m really proud of these boys. They had no varsity experience last year as we lost our top eight players from a year ago. To end up back here, my hat’s off to these boys.”

The Indians jumped out toa 12-6 lead after the first period of play behind eight points from Dustin Welch. Zwolle made a bit of a run in the second period, but by the end of the first half, Anacoco was still up by six, 18-12.

Zwolle managed to trim the gap to three points during the third period of play, but Anacoco always seemed to have the answer, holding a 26-21 lead at the end of the frame.

Anacoco had seemingly taken control of the game during the early stages of the fourth period, moving out to a 34-23 lead before Luzardo and his defensive presence in the post was lost to fouls.

Zwolle cut the gap to 34-30 after a few trips to the free throw line. Then, Taylor was disqualified with five fouls and the Hawks got another free throw..

With less than a minute to go, the Hawks tied the game on a three-pointer from Draven Meshell, 34-34.

However, Anacoco was able to reclaim the lead, 36-34. But in the last 15.3 seconds of play, the Hawks scored on a putback after an offensive rebound, then stole a pass and connected on a layup to take the lead.

Anacoco turned the ball over with 1.4 seconds to go and didn’t get another opportunity as Zwolle got the win.

Though disappointed with the loss, Carlisle expressed his pride in the Indians.

“For us to not have any varsity experience, win 31 games and get back here shows how hard these boys worked,” Carlisle said. “I couldn’t be more proud of these boys.”

Meshell paced Zwolle with 11 points, while Welch led all scorers with 16 points and 11 rebounds.