The Houston Tigers were outscored 17-6 in the second quarter Tuesday night in a season-opening 72-57 defeat at Mansfield.
Houston (0-1) led 16-14 after the opening quarter. But Mansfield switched to a zone defense that slowed the Tigers’ offense.
“We knew ahead of time that they would go 2-3 zone at some point,” first-year Houston coach Dustin Kirkman said. “We went a little cold in the second quarter. We had some open looks that went in and rolled out.”
Junior center Rodney Preheim had 18 points in his first career varsity game. Sophomore Weston Walker hit a pair of 3-pointers and was 9-for-11 at the free-throw line en route to 17 points.
“I’m pretty proud of Rodney,” Kirkman said. “He’s a 5-foot-10 post player, but he’s a strong kid and has very good footwork and touch. He used his body and created some space. He did exactly the things I knew he was capable of doing.”
Box score
Houston 16 6 15 20 — 57
Mansfield 14 17 18 23 — 72
HOUSTON (0-1) — Van Horn 2 4-5 9. Cantrell 0 1-2 1. Walker 3 9-11 17. Poynter 1 0-0 2. Scheets 2 1-4 5. Preheim 9 0-1 18. Kelley 1 1-2 3. Pokorny 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 16-25 57.
MANSFIELD — Rummens 1 0-0 2. Henry 4 2-2 10. Carnal 3 3-5 10. Dugger 4 7-8 19. Gray 11 1-3 26. Elliott 1 0-0 2. Jones 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 13-18 72
3-pointers: Houston 3 (Walker 2, Van Horn); Mansfield 7 (Dugger 3, Gray 3, Carnal).
