Hornets give Rockets their first district loss
The defensive game plan for the East Central Hornets on Tuesday night was to slow down the Judson Rockets.
East Central was able to execute that plan successfully, especially late in the fourth quarter, as the Hornets pulled out a 67-65 win over the Rockets on Judson’s home court in a key District 27-6A game.
The Hornets (13-10, 3-1 27-6A) used their defense and timely shots from several of their players in the second half as they handed Judson (14-7, 3-1 27-6A), ranked sixth in the Express-news rankings, its first loss in district play.
East Central held Judson under its season average of 73 points per game and held two of the Rockets’ starters, guards Donavan Gomez (eight points) and Mason Wallace (11 points), below their season averages.
Senior guard Anariss Brandon led Judson with 22 points, but it was not enough to overcome East Central’s balanced scoring. The Hornets had three players in double figures, led by William Nathaniel with 19 points, Cornell George with 15 points and Jacob Stewart with 12 points.
East Central won the game on the boards as well, grabbing key defensive rebounds and doing the job on the offensive glass, which produced many second shot opportunities for the Hornets in the paint.
“Our game plan was to stay in front of them and make them have to run an offense,” East Central
coach James Rabon said. “Quit letting them get downhill, getting a fast break and getting drive and kicks, and for the most part, our guys did a great job of that. We had little spurts where we let them get into a little rhythm and get downhill, but if you make them run an offense and make them take contested jump shots, I think you’re
doing a great job on defense.”
Judson started the game on a 7-0 run and led 11-4 late in the first quarter before East Central closed out the quarter on a 10-1 run to take a 14-12 lead going into the second quarter. A back and forth second quarter followed, with East Central taking a 29-27 lead at the half.
The lead switched back and forth for most of the second half until East Central started to break away in the fourth quarter, as Stewart drilled a corner three to put the Hornets up 54-47 with over five minutes remaining in the game.
But the Rockets came back, as Reggie Steadman drilled a 3pointer, and Brandon made two free throws to tie the game at 54 with 3:38 left. Stewart then delivered another 3 to put the Hornets back on top 57-54, and after a Judson miss, Nathaniel sank another 3 to extend East Central’s lead to 60-54 with 2:42 in the game.
After Judson answered on a runner by Christian Pillow, East Central went up 62-56 on a lay-in by George, set up by a backdoor pass and assist from Kyron Wallace.
“I like the way the guys responded,” Rabon said. “We got in a hole, they dug in and they knew what we needed to do to get back out of the hole and take control of the game, and everyone was on the same page and did exactly that.”
Judson coach Victor Lopez said lack of execution hurt the Rockets on the offensive end.
“We had lack of execution at key moments,” Lopez said. “And then it seemed like every loose ball bounced to some (East Central) guy standing under the basket. I don’t how many times balls bounced around and ended up with the Hornets laying it up.
“We didn’t do a good job of rebounding,” Lopez added. “Hey that’s what you do. You get beat and we move on and get ready for the next game. We’re still only four games into district.”