Tigers take down stubborn Mustangs, 59-49

[AggiesAreWe]

Tigers take down stubborn Mustangs, 59-49

Van Wade
The Orange Leader

PORT ARTHUR — The energetic, never-say-die West Orange-Stark Mustangs led after the first three quarters against District 21-3A rival Silsbee in the Class 3A Region III quarterfinals.

However, the Tigers won the quarter that counted the most.

Silsbee, trailing 40-38 entering the fourth period, outscored the Mustangs by a 21-9 margin in the game’s final eight minutes as the Tigers walked away with a 59-49 victory at Titans Gym at Memorial High School Tuesday night.

Darius Stallworth was the biggest thorn in the Mustangs’ side as the Tiger forward scored 10 of his game-high 16 points in the second half while pulling down 10 of his game-high 15 rebounds after intermission.

The Tigers now advance to the 3A Region III Tournament, which will be held at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville Friday and Saturday. Joining them will be 21-3A runnerup Hardin-Jefferson, which throttled Cleveland 82-66 Tuesday.

The third time just wasn’t quite the charm for the Mustangs against the Tigers. Silsbee, the 21-3A champion, defeated the Mustangs 81-59 and 55-44 in 21-3A action this season. However, the Tigers almost had more than they bargained for for nearly three and a half quarters at Memorial High School.

Coach Donald Newton’s Mustangs (21-11) battled hard against the favored Tigers (28-4) throughout, especially with tough inside defensive play, led by JaKeenen Cotton, who had a big double-double, scoring 13 points while yanking down 13 rebounds.

Silsbee scored 12 of the first 14 points in the final period.

Guard Pheal Hill’s three-point play gave the Tigers the lead the rest of the way at 42-40. Hill finished with 15 points and six rebounds.

The Mustangs had no answer for Stallworth down the stretch as he bruised his way inside for eight points and six rebounds in the decisive fourth period. Hill had eight points in the quarter and Prentice Lane, who finished with 13 points and eight boards, had four points in the period.

The Tigers outrebounded the Mustangs 13-6 in the final period and committed just one turnover while the Mustangs had five.

The Tigers, who have struggled from the line in recent games, hit 7-of-10 free throws in the fourth while the Mustangs were just 4-of-10. Silsbee went 21-of-33 from the charity stripe for the game while WO-S was 14-of-23.

The Mustangs finished with 19 turnovers while the Tigers committed 14.

D’Andrus Brooks-Gentry had 11 points for the Mustangs and he hit two three-pointers. Anthony Noble had 10 points and five rebounds.

Silsbee held Mustang guard Kendrick Budwine and post Darius Davis in check throughout. Budwine, an excellent three-point shooter, was held to one point while Davis had six points and one rebound.

The Mustangs led 9-8 at the end of the first period with Cotton leading the way with two buckets on nice drives in the paint.

WO-S led 25-23 at the half as Noble and Brooks-Gentry had five points apiece with both of them having a three-pointer apiece. Lane and Hill had five points apiece for the Tigers in the quarter.

The Mustangs kept their two-point lead at the end of the third. Cotton zipped inside for five points in the period while Noble had four and Davis was a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line. Stallworth and Lane kept the Tigers in it by combining for nine points in the quarter.

[ST413]

Watching the Kountze game and I just heard Coop say New Waverly is better than the Tigers...............even though we beat them without a couple of key players.

[AggiesAreWe]

[quote name="ST413" post="769387" timestamp="1267510092"]
Watching the Kountze game and I just heard Coop say New Waverly is better than the Tigers...............even though we beat them without a couple of key players.
[/quote]

Yea I heard him say that too. ;D

Silsbee beat New Waverly without Pheal Hill and Xavior Harris.

[Lazeek]

Just for the record...........HJ lost to NW without Ricossa!!!! ;) ;) ;) 

BTW.........Coop is insane if he thinks that NW is better than Silsbee!!!!  NW is about the 4th or 5th best team that HJ played this year............Silsbee, Navasota, Cleveland and regardless of the outcome I think that Kountze is better than NW!!!!

[HoopInsider_Cooper]

[font=Courier]Everything I saw Lazeek has a problem with it.  ;) Offensively, no they are not better than Silsbee. They were awful from the outside tonight. Defensively, the way they played tonight, they could have beaten a lot of teams. Outside of Yates, it was the best defensive game I have seen all season.[/font]

[court side]

Congrats Tigers