No. 8 Tigers upend Mustangs, 84-59

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No. 8 Tigers upend Mustangs, 84-59

Van Wade
The Orange Leader

WEST ORANGE — Leaving it all on the court Friday night, the West Orange-Stark Mustangs couldn’t quite keep up with the state’s No, 8-ranked Class 3A unit.

Silsbee used a big 24-12 spurt in the second quarter as the Tigers went on to run past the Mustangs 84-59 in the District 21-3A opener for both squads at Mustang Gym.

The Mustangs (14-7, 0-1) held firm in the early going and were as close as 23-20 to the Tigers (19-2, 1-0) early in the second period but Silsbee finished the half with an 18-5 run to lead 41-25 at intermission.

The Mustangs’ big men got in foul trouble early on and couldn’t slow down Tiger post Abry Thomas, who poured in a game-high 25 points and snagged a game-high 16 rebounds.

Both Anthony Noble and JaKeenen Cotton filled up the hustle chart like they usually do for the Mustangs.

Noble fired in a team-high 17 points to go along with five rebounds while Cotton filtered in 13 points and led the Mustangs with seven rebounds.

Justin Francis had a solid game off the bench for WO-S, tallying 14 points while snaring five rebounds. Point guard Kendrick Budwine posted seven points and five boards while Robert Redd had five rebounds.

The Tigers were balanced as well.

Forward Prentiss Lane had 17 points and six rebounds. Point guard Pheal Hill poured in 15 points and grabbed six boards. Kendrick Jones contributed 11 points and 11 rebounds while Darius Stallworth pitched in with eight rebounds.

The Tigers led 17-13 at the end of the first period with Hill scoring seven quick points.

Thomas caught fire in the Tigers’ big run in the second period, scoring nine in the quarter. Francis scored five for the Mustangs in the second.

Cotton came up big for the Mustangs in the third, scoring four buckets while Noble added six baskets as the Mustangs trailed 61-43 heading to the fourth.

Hill had seven points in the period for the Tigers while Thomas had six..

The long and rangy Tigers outrebounded WO-S by a 43-35 margin.

The Mustangs turned the ball over 22 times while the Tigers had 15.

Silsbee connected on just 22-of-38 free throws while the Mustangs went 9-of-18. The Tigers attempted 20 more charity shots as the Mustangs were whistled 23 times on fouls while the Tigers had just 12.

The Mustangs will look to regroup Tuesday when they visit Hamshire-Fannett.

H-F (6-13, 0-1) took Orangefield (14-10, 1-0) to overtime Friday before falling 55-52.