Published: January 17, 2008 11:13 am      

Defense key in Slocum's win over Grapeland

By SCOTT TYLER

H-P Sports Editor



SLOCUM — Slocum head coach Jay Bruce has been preaching defense all season.

Tuesday night, it was Slocum’s defense that slowed down Grapeland as the Mustangs opened district with their third straight win, topping the Sandies 59-42.

“This is a huge win for us,” Bruce said. “We have never beat Grapeland and they are a very good team.”

Slocum (3-0, 21-5) pestered Grapeland (1-1, 4-8) all night on defense and kept the Sandies off the board as Grapeland only had five offensive rebounds.

“I came in concerned about offensive rebounds but we did a great job keeping them off the boards,” Bruce said. “We have bought into blocking out.”

Bruce said he also was pleased with the way his defense forced Grapeland into tough shots.

“When Grapeland was getting shots, we always seemed to have a hand in their face,” Bruce said.

Slocum started the game shooting lights out from the outside. The Mustangs hit their first four three pointers — three by Jared Lane and one by Logan Foster — to give Slocum an early 12-4 lead. Slocum finished with eight three pointers — six coming in the first half.

Slocum’s outside shooting started to open up the inside game in the second quarter as Randall Thomason made a runner in the lane and then Kendell Redd found Thomason for a layup to give the Mustangs a 20-11 lead.

“We were able to hit the low post pass in the second quarter because we extended their defense,” Bruce said. “The early threes were huge because after that we played even basketball through the next three quarters.”

Grapeland’s Ty Kellum hit one of his two three pointers in the second quarter to cut the Slocum lead to 20-14, but that was the closest the Sandies would get.

After the Grapeland three pointer, the Mustangs went on an 11-0 run, eight points from Stevie Prater. The Slocum Mustang hit a three pointer to give Slocum a 27-14 lead and then after a steal by Lane, Prater finished with a layup.

Prater finished Slocum’s scoring run by getting a steal and then hitting a three pointer and the Mustangs headed into the half with a 34-21 lead.

Slocum kept its double-digit lead through the third quarter as the Mustangs held Grapeland to six points in the quarter.

The Sandies made an attempted comeback in the fourth quarter and got the lead down to 10 points with 3:32 left to play in the game when Tony Taylor hit a jumper from the free-throw line and Henry Faulk had a free throw.

But Slocum would not allow the rally as Otis Lackey made a three pointer and then the Mustangs started to run the clock and held on for the win.

Lane led Slocum with 13 points and Thomason had 10 points. Adam Williams, Prater and Lackey all had nine points.

Kellum led Grapeland with 12 points and Chris Pierson added 10 points.

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Scott Tyler may be contacted via e-mail at styler@palestineherald.com