St. Michael's Academy vs St. Anthony

January 29 St. Michael's had a chance to redeem themselves against San Antonio St. Anthony.  If you recall on January 12 St. Anthony upset St. Michael's in overtime making it the upset of the week.  Beating St. Michael's was like winning the district title for St. Anthony, the fans ran onto the court and there were chest bumps and high fives throughout the gym.

On Saturday St. Michael's had a chance to show that the first loss was just that an upset not to be relived a second time.  The Crusaders came out strong defensively, holding St. Anthony to only 11 points in the first quarter.  St. Michael's front court of Jaymes Maldonado, Austin Burch and Jake Kocher did a great job out front on defense putting constant pressure on St. Anthony's guards and combining for 9 out of the 13 steals in the game. St. Michael's also finished the game with 31 rebounds forward Adam Witlock added 9 along with 11 points, Alex Cady and Jake Koher both finished the game with 6 rebounds, Austin Burch added 16 point of his own shutting down St. Anthony's hope of repeating the upset of January 12.

St. Michael's 77, St. Anthony 60

	1	2	3	4	OT	T
St. Michael's	16	19	19	23	—	77
St. Anthony	11	18	13	18	—	60

SM: Maldonado 8, Kocher 33, Cady 4, Burch 16, Stanka 5, Whitlock 11.
SA: Pena 2, Chavez 18, Morales 9, Fernandez 7, Beker 10, Becker 11, Cabrara 3.
Records: SA: 18-11, SM: 17-13.

Bastrop vs Hendrickson

January 28 Bastrop had the game of the week beating Pflugerville's Hendrickson High School 79 to 72. The first and second quarters went back and fourth with Hendrickson leading at half time by one.  Bastrop was had some problems containing Hendrickson's forward Jalen Washington who finished the game as the overall high scorer with 30 points. Bastrop's Josiah Monroe and Jordan Roach did a great job of matching Washington's scoring out put Monroe 22 and Roach 18. The third and forth quarter were the deciding quarters Bastrop was able to put some defensive stops together holding Hendrickson to only 11 points in the third.  Hendrickson made a run in the forth scoring 21 but were unable to contain Bastrop's guards with all four guards scoring in double figures giving Hendrickson its second district loss.

This was a great team win for the Bastrop Bears Coach Autrey really has this team working together well. Its nice to see a team come together and trust in each other to do the right thing with the ball.  If  the Bears continue working together in this manner I can see them doing well and going far in the playoffs.

Bastrop 79, Hendrickson 72

	1	2	3	4	OT	T
Bastrop	21	18	14	26	—	79
Hendrickson	22	18	11	21	—	72

Bas: Monroe 22, Roach 18, Thompson 12, Bryant 11, Clemons 7, Thorne 6, Harrell 3
HHS: Washington 30, Rivera 16, Lovett 14, Moon 6, Henderson 3, Price 3
Records: H: 6-2, B: 15-11 5-3.

Austin High vs Westlake

January 28 Austin High should have had an easy time against Westlake but the Chaps were not going down without a fight.  If not for the 13 to 7 first quarter that the Maroons put together this would have been a much closer game and Westlake may have pulled an upset off on Friday night.

Looked like the Maroons went into this game under estimating the Chaparrals, and while they went into the fourth quarter up 46 to 34 the Chaps were not done.  They outscored the Maroons 19 to 16 in the final quarter and it looked like the Maroons pulled back on the gas in the fourth. Not a good idea with the second half of district right around the corner and Bowie lying waiting for a chance to redeem themselves.  The Maroons need to keep the pedal to the medal through all four cause their going to need it when they meet up with the Bulldogs on February 1.

Austin High 62, Westlake 53

	1	2	3	4	OT	T
Westlake	7	17	10	19	—	53
Austin High	13	16	17	16	—	62

WHS: Deblasio 3, Morse 8, Rowan 18, Fisher 1, Hughes 3, Hargis 4, Box 4, Wikelius 11
AHS: McClellan 15, Wright 9, Robbins 10, Gonzales 8, Strake 5, Renking 15
Records: Austin High: 23-2 (5-0); Westlake: 11-16 (1-4)

Bowie vs Akins

January 28 the Bowie Bulldogs visit the home of the Akins Eagles on a district show down that would start to line up the district leaders going into the second half of district play.  With Akins being the favorite the Bulldogs looked at an upset helping put themselves in second place behind the leading Austin Maroons.

 

Bowie's started off the game strong scoring 26 points to Akins 15 in the first quarter and that proved to be the deference in the game.  The following three quarters went back and forth but Akins was never able to make up the deference of the first.  Connor Robinson's offensive showing was exactly what the doctor ordered to push the Bulldogs over the Eagles 75 to 60. These are the dominating games that we look Robinson to pull off each night, with guard Paul Baxter dropping 23 and forward Jacob Varela 9 that was enough to push Bowie into second place in the district.

 

Bowie's defense also did a great job of containing guard Malcolm Canada keeping him to only 16 points, they had a little trouble holding guard Yolonzo Moore who finished the game with 25 but that just was not enough to get the win over Bowie.

 

Looks like were going to have to keep a close eye on these three teams Austin High, Bowie, and Akins all have a legitimate chance at winning this district and its going to be a great second half, if Bowie's Connor Robinson can put these types of numbers against Austin High in their next meeting look out Maroons you may be looking at your first district loss.

 

Bowie 75, Akins 60

	1	2	3	4	OT	T
Bowie	26	19	13	17	—	75
Akins	15	17	14	14	—	60

BHS: Baxter 23, Isom 7, Robinson 37, Varela 9, O'Reilly 2.
AHS: Canada 16, Hollis 4, Rivera PJ 3, Moore 25, Richardson 3, Rivera A 9.
Records: BHS: 22-4 (3-2), AKS: 19-8 (3-2).

Bowie vs Del Valle

Well we didn't see this game being as close at it was with Bowie's Connor Robinson averaging a double double we looked at him dominating this contest.  Its just didn't turn out that way, the Cardinals defense came to play and were looking for an upset keeping Bowie's offense to only nine points in the second quarter. Both Fannell and York had excellent offensive games Fannell finished with 15 and York with 14 and that may have been enough but Bowie's Paul Baxter was not going to allow the Cards to pull off the win.  Baxter finished the game with 22 leading everyone offensively and Bowie's Icom added 11 of his own to push the Bulldogs over the Cards 49 to 43.

Bowie 49, Del Valle 43

	1	2	3	4	OT	T
Del Valle	12	9	11	11	—	43
Bowie	9	17	14	9	—	49

DVHS: Fannell 15, York 14, McElveen 6, Owen 4, Clark 2, Berry 2
BHS: Baxter 22, Icom 11, Robinson 6, Vallera 5, Necak 3, Jefferson 2
Records: B: 21-4 (2-2), DV: 13-13 (1-3).

Austin High vs Akins

This was playing out to be the game of the week, with both teams undefeated and the winner taking over first place in the district we were also looking for this game to be a tight one.  Akins started out the first quarter as we expected, with a lot of energy, point guard Yolonzo Moore and guard Malcom Canada came ready to play and were looking to upset Austin High.  At the end of the first quarter Akins was up 12 to 8 and things were looking good Austin High just didn't have an answer for Canada who finished the game as the over all high scorer with 20 points. But for Akins to be successful they were going to need a big offensive game from Moore and that just didn't go well with Moore only scoring 7.  Guard Anthony Rivera tried to make up for Moore's off day by putting in 10 of his own but it wasn't enough.  Austin High McClellan finished with 19 and Gonzalez had 15 and Ranking 11 in a winning effort and now leaders in the district.

Akins will have a second chance at home but will have to get through the rest of the district without a loss because we don't see Austin High loosing any games the rest of the way.  This should make for a big sale out at Akins later in the season.

Good luck to both Austin High and Akins hope to see you both in the playoffs.

Austin High 57, Akins 49

	1	2	3	4	OT	T
Austin High	8	15	16	18	—	57
Akins	12	17	8	12	—	49

AHS: McClellan 19, Wright 2, Robbins 5, Gonzales 15, Strake 5, Ranking 11
AHS: Canada 20, Hollins 2, RJ Rivera 5, Moore 7, Richardson 3, A. Rivera 10, Davis 2
Records: Au: 22-2 (4-0), Ak: (3-1).

Westwood vs Stony Point

Stony Point continues its struggles in district with most of its main players scoring under double figures in the game against Westwood.  While SP struggles Westwoods continues to improve with Nalodka as High scorer finishing the game with 17, adding to the total were players Daly with 12 and Swofford finishing with 15.  SP has all the tools they need but players just aren't taking ownership, and it has to start with the senior class. Several players on SP's team have an opportunity to play at the college level but when your 6'7", 6'8" or taller you have to dominate the game if not offensively, defensively and I just don't see SP's players stepping up and playing with their hearts.  You can have all the skill in the world but if you don't have the heart the skill means nothing.

I hope to see some of SP's seniors start to step up and take ownership of this team, at times like this fans have a tendency of wanting to blame the coaches but the games of seen the coaching hasn't been the problem.  Come on seniors this is your last year, if your not making the playoffs maybe you can be the spoiler and keep some of your district rivals out as well.

Good luck SP and finish strong.

Westwood 70, Stony Point 52

	1	2	3	4	OT	T
Westwood	15	19	18	18	—	70
Stony Point	9	14	15	14	—	52

WHS: Swofford 15, Pearcy 2, Harris 2, Femal 8, Holeman 6, Nalodka 17, Martin 1, Dettman 5, Daly 12, Cottle 2
SPHS: Traore 5, Dramberger 9, McFayden 4, Callis 9, Richardson 6, Williams 5, Devastey 2, Thurgness 2, Woodson 10