The Woodlands uses balanced attack to rout Willis
THE WOODLANDS — The Woodlands knocked down nine 3-pointers and shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half as it pulled away from Willis early during a 94-40 nondistrict victory on Tuesday evening.
The Highlanders (55), coming off a thirdplace finish at the VYPE Thanksgiving Classic on their home floor over the weekend, kept their momentum going with a balanced offensive attack. Eleven different players scored for The Woodlands, led by 14 points from Austin Timperman. R.J. Keene II finished with 11, Thomas Williams had 10, and Kesean Carter and John Stubbs each added nine. Romello Wilbert and Caleb Smith had eight points apiece.
“To be able to rest on Sunday, come in and have a great practice on Monday, and then have the focus that we had tonight, I thought that was just special,” said The Woodlands coach Reed, whose team knocked down a total of 15 shots from behind the arc. “I was really pleased with our mental readiness to play from the get-go.”
Willis (5-4), which had its five-game winning streak snapped, was led by 15 points from Keith Kizzie. Tre’vion Jones finished with nine, and Darius Mickens had eight.
The Highlanders opened the game on a 12-2 run, and did not allow Willis to make a shot from the floor until the 4:23 mark.
The Woodlands finished the first quarter with a 22-8 lead and kept its foot on the gas in the second, connecting on seven 3-pointers. Willis started the period with a 6-0 spurt, but managed just four points during the final six and a half minutes.
“I felt like they wanted it more,” Willis coach Michael Storms said. “I felt like The Woodlands started out with more energy defensively. They weren’t going to let us do what we wanted to do, and we just kind of let them do what they wanted to do. Defensively, we lacked the energy that we’ve had, but when you’re not making shots and not scoring, it’s harder for you to kind of get the energy on defense. I think those kind of go hand-inhand.”
The Highlanders closed the half on a 13-2 run and walked into the locker room with a hefty 50-18 advantage. It was more of the same over the final two quarters as The Woodlands maintained its decisive lead and closed out the game.
“We were 9-for-15 from 3 in the first half, and that’s a bunch of different guys,” Reed said. “I looked in the locker room, and it’s, ‘That guy made shots, that guys made shots, that guy made shots,’ on down the line. When we do that, it’s so hard to guard because we’re always fresh, we always have people ready to go, and we have weapons everywhere.”
The Highlanders have now scored at least 70 points seven times in 10 games this year. Tuesday marked the second-highest point total of the season for the team behind a 106-point outing against Livingston last week.
The Woodlands will be back in action on Monday with a home game against Klein Collins. Willis, meanwhile, will host Livingston on Tuesday.
“I felt like it was going to be a boxing match, and I felt like we were in a lower weight class,” Storms said. “They hit us with a lot of punches early on, and we didn’t know how to respond. The good thing that we can take away from this is that it wasn’t a district game, and hopefully it will kind of bring us down to earth after a five-game winning streak. We have to learn from it.”