THS ready to challenge Wranglers again
PARIS, Texas—The roles are reversed going into the 5A bi-district basketball playoffs for Texas High and West Mesquite.
Heavy underdogs, the fourth-seeded Wranglers upset THS in the first round of the football playoffs.
Tonight, the Tigers have an opportunity to avenge that setback
against West Mesquite (22-9), ranked 80th overall in Texas by MaxPreps. The two schools tip off at 7 p.m. in the Paris High School gymnasium.
“West Mesquite is a very good basketball team; they finished second to Highland Park in 15-5A,” Texas High coach Keith Jones said. “They shoot the ball well, and they shoot the three very well. Sometimes you live and die by the three. It can come back to haunt you.”
Texas High (16-9) finished third in 16-5A behind Mount Pleasant and Sulphur Springs.
“I think we match up well with West Mesquite,” Jones said. “We’re about the same size player-for-player. They play a full court man-to-man defense mostly, and they do a good job at what they do offensively, which is similar to us.
“We can’t beat ourselves, and we’ve got to shoot the ball well. They’re probably the favorites, but I honestly feel good about our chances. I think we’re a good basketball team, too. The kids are focused and we’ve had a good week of preparation.”
The Wranglers will probably play 11-12 players, starting five seniors. Brothers Patrick Nweke (6-5) and Mike Nweke (6-3) start at the post. Mike averages 14.1 points and 8 rebounds per game and Patrick 9.3 points and 6 rebounds.
The team’s leading scorer is point guard TyWaun Hampton, who is averaging 14.7 points, including 62 3-pointers. Shooting guard Damein Buckley averages 14.1 points with 72 treys, and guard Davier Wheeler averages 8.1 points with 33 treys to his credit. Juniors Charles Parker and Tra Mallard are the Wranglers first two off the bench.
Texas High has also played two groups most of the season.
Senior Quan Hampton will be the point, and has been one of the Tigers’ leading scorers this season. Vonderic Stanley and Lavon Brown have played similar roles to their counterparts, as have Curtis Crump and Tevailance Hunt.
Cole Drumm, Jordan Ray,
Caleb Wilson, Anton Coulter and Demarquis Vaughn will likely come off the bench.
The winner of this game advances to the area round to play Little Elm or Frisco Wakeland.