For the second straight year, the Houston Tigers’ basketball season began with an overtime loss to West Plains.
The Zizzers, who trailed the entire way until the final few minutes of regulation, outscored Houston 9-3 in the extra period for a 55-49 overtime victory Tuesday night.
‘The effort was there. I was very pleased,” second-year Houston coach Brent Hall said. “I think we’ve got some good things to work with.”
Senior Kyle Poynter led Houston (0-1) with 22 points. Jesse Setters scored nine, and Kaleb Poynter added eight in his first career varsity start.
Braxton Williams scored 17 points and Keegen Bowen added 15 for West Plains.
The 2009 season opener was eerily similar to last year’s first game. In 2008, the Zizzers took their first lead with 2 minutes, 9 seconds left in regulation and scored seven of the first eight points of overtime in a 75-70 win.
“I feel like if that wasn’t their fifth game, things might have been different,” Hall said. “It was our first game, and we didn’t have the rust off yet or our game legs.”
Setters hit a pair of second-quarter 3-pointers as the Tigers took a 25-18 halftime lead. The advantage stretched to nine points entering the fourth quarter.
“We played extremely hard,” Hall said. “I was pleased with our effort up and down our lineup. They hustled their butts off.”
West Plains outscored the Tigers 18-11 in the fourth quarter to force overtime.
Fatigue may have been a factor late. Houston played just six payers. Hall also said the Tigers missed open looks down the stretch.
“A lot of it is due to inexperience,” Hall said. “Maybe we were a little tired, but I felt like we held up pretty good for the most part. We made a few careless mistakes and they capitalized.”
Hall said he saw small mistakes that can quickly be corrected before the Tigers host Hartville on Friday.
“There are some things that we need to get better at,” Hall said. “Just technique stuff and footwork — little things that we can do better.”
Box score
Houston 9 16 10 11 3 — 49
W. Plains 8 10 8 18 9 — 55
HOUSTON (0-1) — Van Horn 0 1-2 1. Buchholz 2 2-2 6. KyPoynter 9 4-9 22. Setters 2 3-4 9. KaPoynter 3 2-2 8. CScheets 1 1-4 3. Totals 17 13-23 49.
WEST PLAINS — York 2 0-0 4. Joice 1 0-0 3. Hall 5 0-0 10. Williams 4 8-10 17. Washington 2 0-2 4. Bowen 6 2-2 15. Totals 20 10-14 55.
3-pointers: Houston 2 (Setters 2); West Plains 3 (Joice, William, Bowen).
