BOYS BASKETBALL: Memorial earns second straight share of 22-5A
Published 12:14 am Wednesday, February 7, 2018
NEDERLAND — Class 5A fourth-ranked Port Arthur Memorial wasn’t going to be limited for long.
The Titans’ baskets would come. The defense would turn into offense.
Nederland played keep-away in an effort to keep Memorial’s offense down, but the Titans’ defense kept the Bulldogs without a field goal for more than 15 minutes and powered a 54-20 victory to earn a share of the District 22-5A championship.
“That’s big,” third-year Titans coach Kenneth Coleman said. “That’s one of our goals along the way. Anytime you can accomplish that, that’s big for your program, and you can build on that.”
A win at Port Neches-Groves on Friday or Beaumont Central loss to Lumberton will wrap up an outright championship for Memorial (25-5, 12-0 in 22-5A).
Nederland (23-12, 6-6) fell into a tie with Vidor for fourth place with two games remaining. Vidor beat Lumberton 50-45 on Tuesday.
Nederland visits Livingston on Friday and hosts Vidor next Tuesday. Memorial will host Livingston next Tuesday in its regular-season finale.
The Bulldogs early on executed their plan of controlling possession in an attempt to make it a low-scoring affair but could not buy a basket after taking an 8-5 lead. The Titans led 10-8 through one period, much unlike in their Jan. 12 meeting, when they dominated from start to finish in a 68-37 win.
Memorial had all but shut out Nederland in the second quarter. Bulldogs point guard Jonathan Rayford ended the 11-minute, 51-second drought making 2 of 3 free throws with 0.3 second left after he was fouled on a three-quarter court shot attempt.
That made the score 19-10, but that also was just the start of the Titans’ separation game.
“Our biggest thing is defense, and it’s about stops,” Coleman said. “Early, we weren’t turning them over, but we were doing a good job in the half-court. … We weren’t doing a whole lot of scoring, but we weren’t letting them score.”
A three-point basket by Carlos Rodriguez with 4:40 left in the third ended a 15-minute, 11-second field goal drought for the Bulldogs, but did little to contain a Titans team that has won 17 straight.
Thailan Wesley scored 12 points and Darion Chatman added nine for the Titans.
“They’ve got a good team and did a great job,” 12th-year Nederland coach Brian English said. “I thought we had a good gameplan going in, and I knew we had to make shots, but we didn’t come close to doing that.”
Nederland shot 5 for 35 from the floor, going 4 for 26 from three-point range. Carlos Rodriguez led the Bulldogs with five points off the bench.
“I haven’t seen a shooting game like that ever,” English said. “But that’s not what beat us. Memorial beat us.”
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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews