Kyle Poynter put the finishing touches on a blowout victory with the highlight play of the season.
Poynter threw down an alley-oop from teammate Jesse Setters at the end of the third quarter to put an exclamation point on the Houston Tigers’ 81-34 blowout victory Tuesday night against Newburg.
Coach Brent Hall said it was the most complete game of the season for the Tigers (5-5). It followed one of the worst – a 47-37 defeat at the hands of Liberty in last week’s fifth-place game of the Cabool Holiday Tournament.
“We came out ready to play. We haven’t been doing that lately,” Hall said. “Anyone that has seen us play knows that we’ll play good for 5 or 6 minutes, then not play well for two quarters. Tonight, we played consistently for four quarters.”
Poynter led Houston with 27 points, and senior forward Ty Scheets scored a season-high 20. Ryan O’Neil scored 13 and Setters, who hit four 3-pointers, had 12 for the Tigers, who led 49-22 at the half.
Poynter cemented the victory with his first dunk of the season. It came on a perfectly-placed pass from Setters, who tossed the lob pass from just in front of the Tigers’ bench on the left wing. Hall was urged to call the play – invert – by his players.
“Jesse and Kyle had tried to do it a couple times in practice and didn’t come close. I didn’t anticipate that happen,” Hall said. “But Kyle got off the floor good, and Jesse made a nice pass. It was a good finish to the night for those kids.”
Last Tuesday, Liberty used a 29-9 run to build a big advantage and cruised to a fifth-place win.
Houston rallied from a 21-point deficit with a 16-2 run of its own to pull within seven points with 4:54 to go. The Tigers, who managed just one second-quarter field goal and trailed 30-16 at the half, never got closer.
Poynter led Houston with 15 points. Scheets had 10 as the only other Tiger in double figures.
Derek Daniels scored 10 of Liberty’s first 12 points and finished with a game-high 22.
“Their best player outplayed some of our best players,” Hall said. “I don’t think that’s going to happen on a nightly basis.”
JUNIOR VARSITY: Justin Buchholz scored 19 points and Curry Van Horn had 17 in the JV Tigers’ 59-51 victory Tuesday against Newburg.
After nearly blowing a 30-21 halftime advantage, Houston outscored its opponent 21-14 in the final quarter.
Varsity box score
Newburg 13 9 6 6 – 34
Houston 27 22 22 10 – 81
NEWBURG – Lott 2 0-0 4. Reagan 1 0-0 2. Mudd 1 1-4 3. Smith 2 0-0 6. Casto 1 1-2 3. Rogers 1 0-0 3. Barnes 2 2-2 6. Sutton 3 0-1 6. Totals 13 4-9 34.
HOUSTON – Bucholz 0 2-2 2. KyPoynter 10 6-12 27. Setters 4 0-0 12. O’Neil 5 0-0 13. JScheets 2 0-0 4. DeWitt 1 0-0 3. TScheets 10 0-0 20. Totals 32 8-14 81.
3-pointers: Newburg 2 (Smith 2); Houston 9 (Setters 4, O’Neil 3, KyPoynter, DeWitt).
JV box score
Newburg 7 14 16 14 – 51
Houston 18 12 8 21 – 59
HOUSTON – Smith 2 0-0 6. Miller 0 0-1 1. Buchholz 5 9-10 20. Van Horn 5 7-9 17. Dunn 2 0-0 4. CScheets 1 0-0 2. JScheets 2 0-0 4. DeWitt 2 0-0 6. Totals 19 17-21 59.
3-pointers: Smith 2, DeWitt 2.