In the annual Bunker Shootout last Saturday at Bunker, the Houston High School boys basketball team picked up a much-needed win, downing Lesterville 63-44.
The Tigers also playied twice last week in South Central Association conference road games, and were defeated 62-36 by Liberty Tuesday in Mountain View and lost 82-60 Friday at Cabool.
With junior guard Jordan Arthur scoring 12 points in the first quarter and 6 in the second period, Houston led 35-21 at halftime of the victory over Lesterville.
Arthur finished with a game-high 22 points (including two 3-pointers in the first quarter), while sophomore guard DJ Riley went 7-for-10 from the free throw line and scored 17 points, senior forward Brady Brookshire had 9 and sophomore center Gavyn Daily added 8.
Junior Isaiah Twomey led Lesterville in scoring in the game with 16 points.
“That was probably our best game of the year,” said HHS head coach Jim Moore. “We played well Friday night and then turned around and played again at noon on Saturday and picked up where we left off.”
In the rivalry battle at Cabool, a big crowd was gathered as the host Bulldogs’ eight seniors were recognized on Senior Night.
The two teams went back-and-forth early in the first quarter, and Houston held a 10-8 lead when senior forward Stone Jackson sank a 3-point shot with 3:57 left in the period. But Cabool then went on a 11-1 run and built a 19-11 advantage when senior forward Aceto Gonzales nailed a trey with 1:02 showing, and the Bulldogs never trailed again.
After a hard-fought second period in which Houston outscored Cabool 13-12, the Tigers were behind 31-26 at halftime. Houston trailed by only 2 with time running down and could easily have been closer or in the lead at the break, but turned the ball over with 8 seconds left, and the Bulldogs took advantage with a 3-pointer by senior Trey Atkins with 4 seconds to go.
“We probably should have had the lead at the half,” Moore said. “We missed a couple of bunnies, and then we didn’t execute to get the last shot. Still, it was a very competitive half and I thought we played really well.”
On the strength of prolific outside shooting, Cabool took control in the second half. The Bulldogs drained 9 treys in the half and finished with 12 in the contest.
Atkins sank four 3-pointers and led all scorers in the game with 25 points, while Gonzales hit five triples and finished with 22. Senior forward Tyler Fleetwood also scored in double-figures for the Bulldogs, connecting on seven shots from the low blocks and one trey to finish with 17 points.
Houston also had three players score in double-figures, as senior forward Brady Brookshire had 18 points, sophomore guard DJ Riley went 11-for-14 from the foul line and had 16 and Jackson sank a trio of 3-pointers and added 13.
The Tigers shot a whopping 33 free throws in the contest and sank 22, while Cabool went 6-for-13 from the stripe.
Five different Bulldogs sank 3-pointers in the game.
“You have to give them credit,” Moore said. “They made a lot of threes, and some were deep and some were contested. If they don’t make some of those shots, it probably goes down to the wire. But they did, and you have to tip your hat to them – they did what they had to do.
“But I was really pleased with my team; when we played them in our tournament earlier this year, it wasn’t competitive at all. We knew we could play better, and we did.”
In the matchup at Liberty, the host Eagles were ahead 13-2 at the end of the first quarter and steadily increased the margin from there.
Daily went 5-for-9 from the field and led Houston in scoring with a career-high 10 points, while also grabbing a team-high 8 rebounds. Jackson and junior Brody Adkison each scored 8 points for the Tigers, while Brookshire had 7 and Riley added 3.
Liberty senior guard Terrell Gaines sank 5 shots from 3-point range and led all scorers in the contest with 32 points. Gaines is Liberty’s all-time leading scorer with more than 2,100 points and will continue his hoops career next year playing NCAA Division I ball at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn.
The Tigers committed 16 turnovers in the game, while the Eagles had only 3. Houston sank 3-of-16 shots from 3-point territory, while Liberty went 11-for-24 from behind the arc.
The Tigers (4-17, 0-5 SCA through last week) wrap up the regular season with a trio of home games this week, hosting SCA contests with Ava on Tuesday and Willow Springs on Friday, along with a nonconference game against Dora on Thursday.
Houston will host the Class 3 District 10 Tournament next week. The Tigers are seeded 7th in the 7-team bracket and will face No. 2 Liberty in a first round matchup at 6 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 20).
“Gaines is a great player, obviously,” Moore said, “and we’ll have to do some things to try to contain them. But our boys feel like they can play with them, and that’s important.”
Other teams in the field include top-seeded Thayer, No. 3 Licking, No. 4 Willow Springs, No. 5 Seymour and No. 6 Alton.
Semifinal games will be played on Thursday, Feb. 22, and the district championship game is set for 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24.
“We’re getting closer,” Moore said. “We can feel it, and we know it, but we still do things to shoot ourselves in the foot. We turn the ball over and don’t make the right decision all the time. But we’re trying to, and the ball is starting to move better, which is something that has been a key for us.”
As the season has progressed, Moore and company have had the chance to focus more on game plans.
“We were zoned in on fundamentals and learning how to play the game early in the year,” he said. “Now we’re able to plan better and we’re executing those plans better. And whenever you put all that together, you start playing better.
“We talked a while back about how our remaining games were all dress rehearsals for the real deal, and now we’re there and it’s time to make it happen.”
