SAN ANTONIO — Brazos Beck lived New Home basketball.
In his final game wearing the mantra on his back, Beck did exactly as asked. He played HST — hard, smart and together with his teammates.
Whether it was diving into the scorer’s table to chase a loose ball or returning after a tweaked ankle late in regulation, Beck did coach Koby Abney proud.
It showed on Abney’s face as he choked up talking about his longtime bench companion.
“It’s going to feel weird to, next year, turn around and Brazos not be somewhere on our sideline, because it’s been a long time,” Abney said of the former sixth-grade manager. “And this could be any one of our kids … he’s just a phenomenal kid. He comes from a great family. He’s a godly, Christian man. He’s a leader. He leads the right way. He’s a young man that, if he was dating your daughter, you’d be ecstatic. …
“He is everything that we want someone to be a part of our program to be. … He’s everything HST ought to be.”
Beck finished with eight points, five rebounds, two assists and five steals in Thursday’s heartbreaking overtime loss to Lipan. His impact wasn’t entirely printed on the box score.
The New Home captain had the dubious honor of following Lipan’s top scorer, Court Gaylor. Beck also willed his team in tough moments, despite aggravating a bothersome ankle. He exited for 41 seconds late in the fourth quarter.
There wasn’t going to be anything keeping him off the floor. The time with his teammates was too precious.
Beck experienced a lot with New Home. Two state-tournament appearances and four district championships were part of the fun. He even got to watch an 80-game district winning streak and add to it once he got to high school.
That ended this season, but the result became a blessing. The loss to Plains gave the Leopards areas to work on, improvements that boosted New Home back to the Alamodome.
Abiding by HST didn’t hurt, either.
The way Beck displayed that, especially in his swan song, will be a shining example for the future.
“It was fun … full of ups and downs,” Beck said of his senior campaign. “… Glory to God because we’re here. And not many people get to do that.”
