Tyler Legacy’s Jayden Jones. (Tyler ISD)

Longview returned home to face familiar foe Tyler Legacy in Friday night’s District 10-6A boys basketball battle at Lobo Stadium, but it fell behind by double-digits early and couldn’t recover in a disappointing 81-62 defeat.

The Lobos dropped their 2024-25 season record to 14-11 and district record to 2-6 before they travel to Rockwall-Heath for Tuesday’s 7 p.m. league game.

The Red Raiders, meanwhile, improved their year mark to 18-12 and league mark to 6-2 before they host Rockwall during Tuesday’s 7 p.m. district battle.

“We didn’t have a very good first quarter,” Longview boys basketball head coach Sam Weaver said of his team’s slow start on Friday. “We’re not built to overcame that big of a deficit. We gotta continue to work and get better.”

Tyler Legacy quickly jumped ahead with early free throws by Ja’Corian Oes and Jayden Jones between the 7:24 and 7:04 marks to build up a 4-0 lead.

Jones eventually finished with a game-high 20 points and Josh Hall followed with 14.

But, Longview leaned on Elijah Lloyd’s three-point play at the 6:20 mark and DaMorrion Williams’ back-to-back free throws at the 5:13 mark to take its first and only lead at 5-4.

Lloyd and Williams both finished with a team-high 19 points in Longview’s loss.

Tyler Legacy then leaned on Hall’s nine points, Oes’ five points, and field goals by both Tyler Henry and Gage Nuckolls to outscore Longview 18-2 down the stretch in the period to set up a 22-7 lead.

The Red Raiders continued to grow the gap during a 20-11 start to the second quarter that built up a 42-18 lead with 22 seconds remaining in the first half.

Longview then received a late three-ball from Trent Jackson to cut the gap to 42-21 right before the mid-game break.

Tyler Legacy started the third quarter on a 7-3 run to take a 49-24 lead by the 4:39 mark. Nuckolls contributed three points, and Zyere Ceasar and Oes followed with two.

Longview showed more life during a 12-6 run to cut the difference to 55-36 at the 0:37 mark. The Lobos received six points from Williams and three points from Lloyd and Jacorian Stevenson.

But, Tyler Legacy received Henry’s two late free throws to retake another 21-point advantage at 57-36 before the end of the third.

The Red Raiders then started the fourth quarter with a 14-8 stretch to take their largest lead of the game at 71-44.

Longview heated up with Lloyd’s 11 points, Stevenson’s three points and Jeff Smith’s two points during a late 16-5 run to cut the gap to 76-60 with 50 seconds remaining before Tyler Legacy scored five of the game’s final seven points to wrap up the win.

Jayden Jones led Legacy with 22 points, five rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block. Josh Hall had 14 points. Ja’Corian Oes had 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. Zyere Ceasar had 10 points, three rebounds, a steal and a block. Tyler Henry had 9 points and three assists. Gage Nuckolls had 8 points, three rebounds, six assists and a steal. Brady Noyes and Bryson Perkins scored 2 points each, and Evan Massey and KJ Cyres each had 1 point. JP Rainer added five rebounds and three assists.

The Red Raiders were 7 of 12 from 3-point range with Hall going a perfect 4-for-4.

Legacy will host first-place Rockwall on Tuesday. A win would put the Red Raiders in a tie for the top spot in District 10-6A.