BOYS BASKETBALL: Eagles slow down Bulldogs
Published 9:42 pm Friday, January 18, 2019
NEDERLAND — Barbers Hill held Nederland’s leading scorer, Hayden Hefner, to without a field goal, and Kyler Duhon led a three-point assault in helping the 5A 11th-ranked Eagles post a 58-49 victory Friday to remain unbeaten in district play.
Duhon sank five of the Eagles’ six three-point baskets and led all scorers with 19 points. Max Armer had 15 and Josh Guidry 10 in the win, the first over Nederland under coach Chris Pennington.
Now, Barbers Hill (23-5, 6-0 in 21-5A) must try and sweep defending 5A champion and 12th-ranked Memorial (18-6, 5-1) on Tuesday in Port Arthur.
Nederland (18-10, 4-2) was tied for the 21-5A lead with Barbers Hill going into the week but came up one point shy at Memorial this past Tuesday after trailing by 17 points. This time, the Bulldogs found themselves down 34-22 at halftime and as much as 39-24.
“They’re a veteran ballclub and do a great job,” Bulldogs coach Brian English said. “We had to settle in and figure out what they were doing. I thought our kids did a great job fighting back.”
J.B. Rahe scored 10 of his team-high 14 points in the second half for Nederland. He had five points during a 9-0 run that got Nederland within 39-33. Barbers Hill went more than 5 minutes without scoring during the spell.
The Bulldogs also hit six treys in the game. Twice they came within four points, but then Duhon nailed a three-point shot and Max Armer drove to the basket to make it 51-42 with 2:29 left. Cedric Pete’s trey narrowed the gap to 52-47 with 53 seconds left, but Barbers Hill made its last six free throws to the put the game away.
“A coach English-coached team is never going to give up,” Pennington said. “They showed that tonight. We gave them all they wanted, and they came back on us.”
Joseph Gipson had 12 points, including three treys, Pete had nine and Hefner had five (5 of 6 free-throw shooting) for Nederland.
“We just want him to become more of a facilitator because no matter where the Box-and-1 [defense] was going, if he stepped out, they stepped out with him,” English said. “They did a good job and had a good game plan. We just have to have more kids step up next time.”
The Bulldogs will host Vidor on Tuesday.
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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews