Boys Basketball

 

 

 

                  By COACH CHRISTENSON

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feb. 11 - Woodrow Wilson

 

The Bryan Adams Cougars boys' basketball team was back in action on Wednesday, taking on District Champion Woodrow Wilson. The Cougars came out swinging, taking the first quarter advantage 17-16 behind Senior Trelon Graham. Graham looked to be unstoppable scoring 12 points. Senior Guard Vaylan Jacquez also added 3 3-pointers in the first half, however, the Cougars would trail their district foe, 32-28 at the end of the half. The Cougars 3rd quarter showed their first half fortune was not luck, as they continued the slugfest. The Cougars would enter the 4th quarter down 7, and would cut the lead to 5 midway through the games final quarter. Woodrow Wilson showed the reason why they are at the top in the final few minutes, stretching the lead to 13 as the final buzzer sounded. Mykeus Woods of Woodrow Wilson would have the game high with 19 points. The Cougars will face a tough Newman Smith team on Friday, in Carrollton.

 

Coaches Comments:

"I was very proud of the effort once again. We have given ourselves chances to win time and time again. Unfortunately, we fell a little short, but our kids are finding ways to give us a chance. I was proud of our senior group. They all seemed to contribute greatly. Vaylan hit several 3's and played well defensively. Tre has really been tough the last 3 games. Jeno continues to provide consistent play with scoring and defense. Our young kids are gonna really be special. Starting a freshman and two sophomore will give us a head start on the future. Quincy has done a great job of shooting the ball, and Pete has been a great addition to our squad."

 

 

 

 

 

Jan. 30 - Creekview

 

Friday night, the Cougars were back in action against a heavily favored Carrollton Creekview squad. The Mustangs hopped out to a 17-4 lead to start the game, but the Cougars showed their resiliency. Led by freshmen Quincy Freeny, who scored 18 points, the Cougars would claw back and erase the deficit to 5 points with 12 seconds left in the game. Coach Christenson called a timeout, the teams final timeout. "Generally at that point, most teams would concede the game. But the kids have been a different group throughout district. I still had a feeling we would have a shot." Freeny took the pass off of the inbound and was fouled on a lay-up attempt. After hitting the first free throw, the score was 46-50 in favor of the Mustangs. Freeny's second free throw would bounce off of the rim and right back to Freeny, who was immediately fouled on the put back. After sinking the next two free throws, the Cougars were down 48-50 with 4.3 seconds remaining. The Cougars were called for a foul before the ball was inbounded, resulting in two free throws, however, no time ran off of the clock. When the Mustangs missed the first free throw, it would ensure that the Cougars would atleast have a chance to tie. The second free throw was good, and the Cougars quickly inbounded the ball to Vaylan Jacquez. Vaylan pushed the ball quickly up the right side of the court and had a clear look at a step back three point attempt. Vaylans attempt was unsuccessful, however, the Cougars with only 7 players for the game have every right to feel the success of giving themselves a chance.

 

Coach's Comments:

 

"I have been so proud of these guys and the chances they give themselves in games. It was a great spectator game, and certainly a great game to be a part of. To see Creekview's fans coming down telling our boys what a great game they played, shows that we are headed in the right direction as a program. It was great to see Quincy get back to his comfortable shooting style. He looked a lot more relaxed. Everyone contributed. Everyone was responsible for the success we had on the court."

 

 

 

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Dec. 10 - Wimer Hutchins

 

 

The Cougars were back in action last night, facing a tough visiting opponent, 4-A #11 Wilmer Hutchins. The Cougars showed a lot of poise never backing down and attacking the favored Eagles. At half time the Cougars trailed by 3 and would cut the deficit to 1 entering the 4th quarter. However, foul trouble and injuries would plague the already short bench for BA. That did not stop the Cougars from fighting and clawing, cutting a 10 point difference to 5 points, giving themselves a chance late. The Cougars were led by senior Romello Phillips, who hit two 3's late in the game, and finished with 12. Jeno Bottinelli also had a strong showing with 11 points. The final was 51-45 in favor of Wilmer-Hutchins. The Cougars are 6-7, and look to improve that Friday night against a much improved Molina team.

 

Coach's Comments:

 

"I have been so proud of these guys and the transformation I have seen in the last 8 days. The buy-in has been an unbelievable process, and I feel because of it we will continue to make great strides. As far as the game is concerned, I feel like we are minimizing mistakes from game to game, but still had quite a few costly ones. We were 5-16 from the freethrow line which has been our achilles heel all year. We gave up a costly 3 late in the game off of an offensive rebound. Our defensive rotation had a few flaws late. Having said that, these are all correctable. We need to get healthy fast. We will not give up in the face of adversity, and these kids continue to show that."

 

 

 

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Week of Dec. 1 - Triple A Academy, Kennedale Tournament

 

The Boy's Basketball Program played a tough schedule this past week. We started with Triple A Academy, Ranked #1 in 4-A. The boy's hung in there with them during the first half, but Triple A showed why they were ranked #1 by putting on a dominate shooting performance. Cougars got a loss 40-66.

 

 

On Thursday we attended the Kennedale Tournament. We did not have all players, but I have never been as proud of these boys, as I am after this tournament. The tournament had 8 teams, that were divided into two pools of 4 teams. Our Pool contained 4-A #19 Kennedale, and 5-A #19 Everman, along with Midland Greenwood. Our lack of players and depth showed in both games, as we watched a 16 point halftime lead over Everman slip away late in the second half, and only trailed Kennedale 30-26 at half. We lost both of those games on Thursday, but learned alot about ourselves. On Friday, We put on a dominating performance over Midland Greenwood, winning by 30. We then entered the 8 team tournament bracket as the #6 seed. Again we faced a Ranked opponent in Central Heights. This was one of the more disciplined, athletic teams in the tournament. Our boys put on a performance that this entire community would've been so proud of. They followed a strategic game plan of a slower paced, methodical style game. We won by 15! We advanced to second round on Saturday, without 3 starters due to SAT Testing to play Kennedale again. I'd love to tell you that there was a happy story book game here. But there wasn't. We didn't play well. They are very good. And we lost big.

 

 

We were now in the 3rd place game, against what I considered to be the best team in the tournament, #8 in the state Waco La Vega. We needed the same strategy as the night before. A little slower pace. Went in at half with a 31-28 lead. La Vega wasn't finished though. They opened the second half on a 10-1 run, leading 38-32. But OUR kids battled. It was something that I hadn't seen before out of these kids. Fighting, scrapping, trying to find a way to win! With less than two minutes left, we were fortunate enough to take a one point lead, however, La Vega would hit a 3 pointer with 1:11 left in the game to take the lead back. After a timeout, Romello Phillips drove into the lane and kicked it our to Vaylan Jacquez, who buried a three to give us back the lead. We would keep La Vega from scoring on their next possession, and Phillips would add a two point layup. After another stop, the cougars sealed the deal with another layup and a 5 point victory.

 

Cougars were 3rd place team at a great tournament. We improved to 6-6 on the season.