MBB: Bears grab early share of 22-1A lead
Timpson's Dimric Caraway (30). (Photo by Ray Jackson)
TIMPSON, Tx -- Neither the Shelbyville Dragons nor the Timpson Bears have been particularly happy over the start to their basketball seasons. Both squads have struggled to find consistency as they stumbled to 3-11 and 5-13 starts, respectively.
However, they both came into Friday night's district opener with a clean slate, looking to start off District 22-1A play on the right foot by knocking off their cross-county rival. The contest could prove to be a key to a playoff berth, as both teams know they have two dates with No.2-ranked Tenaha looming in the coming weeks. When the dust settled, the Bears came away with a hard-fought 56-49 win as their backcourt tandem of Jalyn Rhodes and Lorenzo Young combined for 39 points.
The Dragons appeared to have the upper hand in the early going, as they used a 7-1 scoring run to start the game and jump out to an 11-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.
They padded the advantage in the second, at one time leading by 12, before the Bears started clawing their way back into contention. Using a full-court press, Timpson narrowed the lead back to six points and went to the locker room trailing 26-20.
The Bears actually cut the lead to 23-20 before Shelbyville's JaMichael Jenkins drilled a buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the half.
The Dragons struggled figuring out how to break Timpson's press, as they alternated between full-court pressure and a very effective half-court trap. Time and again the Bear guards turned up the heat, forcing the Dragons to hurry their passes as they moved the ball up the court.
Turnovers were quickly pushed back down the court for 2-on-1 scoring opportunities. When the Dragons did get a chance to set up their half-court offense, they got some timely threes by guards James Bradford and C.J. Watson to keep the score from getting out of hand.
The Dragons had difficulty applying their own version of the press, as Jenkins and Watson, along with freshman center Trevor Henkel, all started the second half with three fouls each. As the Bears continued to keep the pressure on, they outscored the Dragons, 18-7, to lead 38-33 at the end of the third period.
Timpson continued to press throughout the fourth quarter, and at times the Dragons appeared ready to make a run to close the gap. Shelbyville struggled finding the bottom of the basket, though, and the Bears held on for the win.
Bears' head coach Cody Anthony was excited about getting district play started on a winning note.
"We've had difficulty dealing with adversity this year," Anthony admitted. "When we've gotten behind, we haven't been able to turn things around to get back in games. To be able to fight back like that is very positive."
He went on to comment on what he felt were the keys to the win.
"We live and die by the press," he admitted. "When we can keep the press on, we can force turnovers and convert them into points. When someone does get the ball up the court and score, we turn it around quickly and run the floor on them. We don't have a lot of size, but we have some really quick guards, and we use that to our advantage."
The Bears were led by Young (junior), who scored 21 points. Rhodes, a senior who added 18 while dishing out five assists. Terrance Brown hit the Bears' only three pointer to finish with nine, and Dimrick Caraway scored three while pulling down 10 rebounds.
The Dragons were led by Bradford, who finished with 13 points, including 6-of-7 from the free-throw line. Watson hit three treys to score 11, and led the Dragons in rebounding with nine boards. Trevor Henkel added nine points, followed by Jenkins and Symyron Robertson with six apiece.
The Bears improved to 5-13 on the year, but more importantly, they are 1-0 in district play. They will travel nine miles east to face arch-rival Tenaha Tuesday night. Tip off for the junior varsity boys is set for 5:30 p.m. at the Tenaha ISD Special Events Center.
The Dragons fell to 3-11 overall, and drop to 0-1 in league play. They will travel to Beckville Tuesday night to take on the Bearcats. Tipoff for the junior varsity boys is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. there as well.