Marquee high school basketball squads Hardin-Jefferson, Kountze playing today

[KFDM COOP]

Beaumont Enterprise..Source

Marquee high school basketball squads Hardin-Jefferson, Kountze playing today

The Hardin-Jefferson boys basketball coach and the Kountze coach have a lot in common these days. Both coaches' only district loss of the season was on the road.

Now, both hope home court advantage works in their favor the second time around.

"I think we are a better team at home," Sutherland said. "We have a good fan base that cheers us on and that helps a lot."

So far, the Hawks (26-4) have won all of their district home games this season.

It's been the same for Kountze. But it dates back even farther for the Lions. Kountze hasn't lost a district home game since 2000.

"It's going to be a tough game," Joubert said. "We hope playing at home helps, but we know we also have to come out ready to play if we want to win the game."

Silsbee plays at Class 3A's No. 4 Hardin-Jefferson at 7:30 p.m. today in the teams' second District 21-3A meeting of the season. East Chambers travels to Kountze for a 7:30 p.m. game in the second round of District 24-2A play.

"Kountze is a tough place to play," said East Chambers coach Hank Hargraves. "We have to take it one possession at a time."

Hargraves and Silsbee coach Travis Williams also share a few things in common. The two gained big wins at home and now they must figure out strategies to do the same on the road.

"It's always tough when you have to play at Hardin-Jefferson," Williams said. "They have a strong fan base that is ready to cheer on their team."

Hardin-Jefferson knows first hand how tough it is to play on the road. Silsbee beat Hardin-Jefferson 77-58 in their first district meeting at the Tigers' gym.

"We missed 22 free throws that game, and we can't let that happen again," said Sutherland, whose team beat Kirbyville 99-44 last Friday. "I think in order to get the win this time around we have to take care of the ball. We have to minimize the turnovers."

Silsbee (19-6) enters the game coming off a 63-58 overtime victory against West Orange-Stark last Friday.

The win kept Silsbee, which is now ranked No. 14 in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll, in the hunt for the district championship.

Silsbee and Hardin-Jefferson are tied for first place in district at 8-1. WO-S, which is no longer ranked in the TABC poll, is tied for third place with Jasper at 6-3.

"I think the kids felt confident after the win against West Orange," said Williams, who was Sutherland's assistant at Kountze for five years. "We feel we can play with Hardin-Jefferson. We just have to minimize our turnovers. In this district, anybody can beat you on any given day. You've got to be prepared every time you step foot on the court."

East Chambers (21-6) handed Kountze a 65-60 loss in their first District 22-4A meeting at the Bucs' gym.

It was the first time East Chambers had beaten Kountze since its first district meeting in 2005. The Lions were on a five-game winning streak in the series before the loss.

"It was definitely a big win for us," said Hargraves. "The win gave us more confidence this season."

East Chambers, which is ranked No. 2 in Class 2A's TABC poll, enters the contest in first place in 24-2A at 8-0. Class 2A's No. 6 Kountze (20-5) is in second place in district at 6-1.

The Bucs are coming off of a 52-30 victory over Buna last Friday, while Kountze beat Hardin 95-72.

"It was a big game for us to win the first time around, but we now have an uphill battle," Hargraves said. "We can't turn the ball over and we have to give them only one shot on their end of the floor."

[WHIRAQFAN]

For those who dont know, since we are a 1A school and the BE dont cover 1A, West Hardin and Big Sandy fall in this same situation, they face off against each other on Friday. Thanks BE

Not to down play EC, Kountze,HJ and Silsbee - Congrats on great seasons. These will all be great games.

All 6 teams are ranked in the Top 20 (none lower than 13) in there respective classes, that says alot for SETX basketball. Good Luck to all.

[Guest Wildcat 08]

The Beaumont Enterprise has always been terrible. Good luck to all tonight.

[rub-a-dub]

Hj is the best

[AggiesAreWe]

The Enterprise was talking about TONIGHT'S games, not Friday's games. You guys kill me.

[PoppaBearstarr]

T MINUS 8 hours and 20 minutes and counting....hurry up 7:40 lets get the game on......