LC-M 46 Nederland 36 Final/Tuesday

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Final/Comments

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LC-M    46

Nederland 36

Ned: Chris Hammond 17pts., 11rbs.

[bulldog81]

Bears outscore misfiring Bulldogs

Published January 31, 2007 12:18 am

By Dave Rogers

The Port Arthur News

— NEDERLAND – Early on Tuesday night, it was hard to believe that the Little Cypress-Mauriceville team playing at Bulldog Gym was the same squad that played to within three points of league-leading Beaumont Ozen just a week earlier.

For that matter, with LC-M hitting just 3 of 15 shots and Nederland 1 of 11 in the first quarter, it was hard to believe fans weren’t still watching the JV game.

But LC-M kept improving its marksmanship and ultimately won the game over the Bulldogs 46-36 behind Kevin Cooper’s 14 points and 10 points by Dallas Bean.

The fourth-place Bears improved to 5-5 in District 22-4A, 15-13 overall, while Nederland dropped to 2-8, 11-18.

Of course, somebody pointed out that Nederland was only “technically†playing with its varsity team, since the Bulldogs start four sophomores who would be on the JV in a better-stocked program.

  LC-M, too, is in a rebuilding mode and the two teams played like it offensively.

By the end of the game, the Bears had boosted their shooting numbers to a cool 34.7 percent (16 for 46), while Nederland was just barely above the Mendoza line at 20.8 percent (10 for 48).

That’s a combined 27.6 percent for both teams for the game.

 Fans at the game were lucky they didn’t exit to find nearby streets frozen over. It was that cold inside.

“That was one ugly basketball game,†first-year Nederland coach Brian English said, speaking for his team. “You can’t win when you shoot 10 for 48.

“That’s probably the worst we’ve shot all year. But that’s the way it is. We’ve got to find a way to win. They found a way to win shooting 34 percent.â€

To be fair, neither team had a wealth of uncontested shots inside, where the refs allowed plenty of banging. Outside – where LC-M was 2 for 14 (14.3 percent) on 3-point trys and Nederland 3 for 22 (13.6) – the shooters were on their own for excuses.

Sophomore Chris Hammond of Nederland led all scorers in the game with 17 points.

He scored 13 of those points in Nederland’s 16-point fourth quarter, which equaled the combined output for its two prior high scoring periods in the game.

And Hammond had the Bulldogs’ “hot†hand, hitting 4 of 11 (36.3 percent) from the field and 6 of 8 (75.0) from the free throw line.

“That’s pretty good for us,†English said.

Indeed. While Hammond was 3 for 6 on 3-pointers, his teammates were 0 for 16 from beyond the arc.

Of course, English knew he had his work cut out when he returned to his alma mater after pulling off a major upgrade for Vidor’s basketball program. He knew his Bulldog teams would take their lumps early.

Both teams missed their first six shots of the game before LC-M’s 6-foot-5 David Sicktich scored the game’s first field goal on a putback and converted a three-point play midway through the first quarter.

Nederland had cause for optimism, though. English had benched his usual starters because of some lackluster work in practice, but he sent the five onto the court with 3:43 left in the first.

Jacob Van Schoubrek scored on a jump shot with 3:10 left in the period to give Nederland a 4-3 lead (Trace Baker had hit two free throws earlier for the Bulldogs).

Then Nederland’s regulars committed three turnovers and missed three shots in what was left of the period and LC-M went on a 6-0 run for a 9-4 lead after one quarter.

That run went to 10-0 for a 13-4 lead before Hammond nailed his first 3-pointer with 5:35 left in the first half.

Nederland scored three more field goals in the final 5:35 of the first half – by Josh Dean, Micah Van Schoubrek and his twin Jacob – and LC-M’s halftime lead was only three points, 16-13.

The Bulldogs hit only 2 of 15 shots in the third period and LC-M, which hit 5 of 11, extended its lead to 28-20 heading into the final quarter.

The Bears grabbed a double digit lead early, 31-20 on Justin Kinsley’s three-point play with 7:26 to play, and Bean made it 14 points, 44-30, when he stole a pass and raced downcourt for a slam with 1 minute left.

Hammond’s back-to-back treys got the Bulldogs within eight points, 44-36, with 34 ticks left.

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[tvc184]

They only won after they outscored us!!