A district title has eluded the Cavaliers yet again.

No. 6 Lake Travis (27-5, 8-2) fell at home to No. 8 Killeen (26-8, 9-1) 57-55 Tuesday night, giving the Kangaroos the outright district title, and putting the Cavaliers in second, ahead of Hendrickson and the winner of Tuesday night’s game between Hutto and Marble Falls.

The loss to Killeen comes two and a half weeks after the Cavs beat the Roos by two in Killeen.

“Well, we’re tied after eight quarters,” Lake Travis head coach Jan Jernberg said. “This is what it comes down to, I guess. We beat them by two, they beat us by two and I don’t want to see them again until the regional finals.”

The two teams kept the battle close throughout the first half, with Killeen carrying a 16-14 edge at the end of the first quarter, and the Cavaliers stealing it away with a 29-28 lead at halftime.

A huge second quarter by the ‘Roos, led by guard Ja’Corie Baker, put Lake Travis in a tough spot. Killeen went on an 18-7 run in the third quarter, and appeared to be in the driver’s seat with a 46-36 lead heading into the fourth quarter. But big shots from Billy Sherakas and Cole Vucurevich helped the Cavs claw back in, along with solid defense. With 38 seconds left in the game, Cavalier point guard David Eads went to the free throw line with Lake Travis down 55-54. He hit the first free throw, but missed the second, putting the teams even at 55-55.

On the ensuing play, Killeen’s Ta’Shawn Thomas banked in a hook shot for the go-ahead basket with 11 seconds left, and Lake Travis was unable to respond on the other end as time expired.

It was just about as cruel as Robert Carlton’s three-pointer to beat Killeen at the buzzer in the team’s previous meeting.

“Let me put it this way, our guy hit a swish, and their guy had to bank it in,” Jernberg said, searching for a silver lining in his own way. “We played that perfectly, though, and he made a tough shot. We weren’t going to let Baker take the last shot. We spent the whole night misjudging how far out Baker could hit threes and it cost us.”

It was a tough loss, but Jernberg wasn’t remotely discouraged. After all, the Cavaliers lost the district finale to Killeen last year, too – and wound up in the regional final well after district foes Killeen and Hendrickson had been eliminated. Jernberg said he believes in the team’s approach and the way it’s playing. How he describes it, on the other hand, is another matter.

“I just told them there used to be a song called ‘Ridin’ Dirty,’ and that’s exactly what we’re going to keep doing,” he laughed. “We don’t win anything outright, we have to fight, scratch and battle. We were down 12 at one point tonight, and we gave ourselves a chance to win.”

Asked if the getting down by 12 was a concern, he brushed the notion off.

“We just came out flat,” Jernberg said. “That’s all there is to it. It happens.”

So it will be business as usual for the Cavaliers, as they prepare for a first round playoff match up with Travis next Tuesday at a location and time that have yet to be determined.

“We’re going to take tomorrow off, then we’re going to practice leading up to Tuesday’s game,” Jernberg said. “We didn’t shoot the ball as well as I would have liked, but they shot the ball really well to put us in the hole. We just couldn’t dig out of it. Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you.”

Yes. Something like that. The Cavaliers will shoot for their first region title by ridin’ dirty and eating the bear. Should be an entertaining few weeks.