Turnovers Doom Ganders

[KFDM COOP]

Turnovers doom Ganders

By Dave Rogers

 

Published January 5, 2008

The Lee Ganders had their crosstown rival right where they wanted them and let them get away in Friday night’s District 21-5A boys’ basketball shootout at Lee College.

Then spotty free-throw shooting by Sterling nearly allowed the Ganders back in before the Rangers held off Lee for a 58-52 win.

Cartavious Kincade and Adrian Fontenot each scored 18 points to lead Sterling, which improves to 14-8 for the season, 1-2 in district.

But their showing at the free-throw line were typical for the Rangers. Kincade hit 4 of 11 freebies and Fontenot 3 of 7. As a team, Sterling hit 15 of 35 for the night.

“We were fortunate to get out of here with a win,†Sterling coach Mark Patton said.

“I told our guys these guys (the Ganders) are going to play with a lot of speed, quickness and emotion, and we did not match that intensity.

We shot 15 of 35 free throws, and at Humble (in a 72-67 loss Wednesday), we hit 20 of 24. So go figure.â€

The Ganders had won just twice in 19 games before Friday, but the Rangers were unable to get out on them in the first half, leading by four (11-7) after one quarter and by three (25-22) at the half.

Kevin Henry, making his best showing of the year with some aggressive drives to the rack, scored 10 of his team-high 15 points in the first half. His eight points and six by Eugene Mayes accounted for 14 of Lee’s 15 second-quarter points.

The Ganders closed the margin to a single point, 32-31, on Henry’s fastbreak bucket midway through the third quarter.

And then it came undone for Lee, now 2-18, 0-3.

“We turned the ball over at the wrong times,†moaned Ganders second-year coach Dote Williams. “Of course, any turnover’s bad, but right when you’re down by one and can tie the game up or go ahead, you can’t have turnovers there.â€

Lee coughed it up six times in the final four minutes of the third period and Sterling finished the period on an 8-0 run to end the third with a 40-31 advantage.

The Ganders got with four points, 40-36, with 7:05 left on Cornelius Laday’s layup and a 3-pointer by Darius Cooper, whose eight points made him Lee’s third-leading scorer behind Henry and Mayes (nine points).

But a turnover and a missed shot fueled two quick three-point plays by Kincade and Fontenot to make a 10-point, 46-36, Ranger lead a minute later. The lead reached 13 points, 53-40, on Manasah Davis’ two successful free throws with 2:57 to go.

From that point on, Sterling hit just 3 of its last 12 shots from the charity stripe.

A pair of treys by Reggie Butler and Xavier Scott got Lee within six points, 56-50, with 33 seconds left and Davis cut it to five, 57-52, with his driving layup with 25 seconds left.

“Our basketball IQ beat us tonight,†Williams, the Lee coach, said. “Defensively, we were fine, but we struggled offensively.â€

“Coach Williams is doing a good job at Lee,†said Patton, who is in his fourth year as Sterling’s head coach. “Those guys are taking the same steps we did the last three years.

“With this odd (school holiday) week, I expected us to have some problems, and we came out very flat tonight. We hadn’t done that all year except in the first quarter the other night at Humble.

“Still, we’ll take the win and see where were are Tuesday against Channelview.â€

The Rangers host Channelview Tuesday night while Lee travels to Beaumont to play West Brook.