Mavericks gave up late fourth quarter lead to state-ranked Highlanders
By RYAN METZ
Special to the Leader
COLLEGE STATION – In a lot of ways McNeil executed their game plan on Friday night.
They knew that The Woodlands would like to put on a 3-point shooting clinic. Earlier this season they hit 23 treys in a game led by their leading scorer Wes Cole’s 10 in that game.
They also knew that they would need to play a perfect game in order to beat a team that hasn’t lost a game since Dec. 3, a span of 22 straight wins coming in.
As the Mavericks held a 48-45 lead early in the fourth quarter it looked like the game plan was being executed perfectly.
They had the No. 20 state-ranked Highlanders deep in the corner but were unable to deliver the knockout blow as The Woodlands pulled out a 61-58 area round playoff victory over McNeil at A&M Consolidated High School.
Tied at 57 with 61 seconds left in regulation, The Woodland’s Garret Colonna drove the lane to and get his shot blocked but his put-back went in to gave the Highlanders a two-point lead they never gave up.
“We made them do something they hadn’t had to do and I was proud of the way we played, “McNeil coach Darrell Hagemann. “A possession here or there changes the game.”
The Highlanders (31-13) finished with seven 3-pointers, not without trying to shoot themselves out of their slump, led by Cole who finished with six points.
“We wanted to come out and really contest shots,” said Mavs’ senior Blair Williams, who scored on hanging jack-knife layups all night. “We were the more athletic team, but they were the more solid group today.”
Williams scored 16 points, but was equaled by the Highlanders’ 6-foot-3 sixth-man Brian Nordstrom who totaled 16. Three other Highlanders joined Nordstrom in double figures.
Nordstrom, a Rice football commit, countered his team’s poor shooting night by having his own in the paint, scoring on an array of low-post moves.
“(Cole) is the guy we prepared for all week, and we really didn’t think they’d have a presence inside like (Nordstrom),” Mavs’ post man Max Pepper said. “When he came in he got the best of me and it was tough to stop,”
Added Hagemann: “We were worried about (Nordstrom) but we were more worried about their perimeter game.”
McNeil (18-13) grabbed the first bucket of the game before a half-court trap helped The Woodlands jump ahead 9-2. Williams scored six first quarter points as they came back and held a 15-12 advantage before a last-second half court 3-pointer went in for the Highlanders tying the game at 15 at the end of the first.
The Woodlands went on a 10-3 run to open the second and give them their largest lead at 25-18. Treys by Robert Waters, Max Pepper, Jeremiah Jones and Jacob Jiongo to close the quarter gave the Mavs a 37-34 advantage at the break.
Both teams entered the fourth tied at 45 before Josh Jones buried a three to give the Mavs the three-point advantage, the team’s largest of the night. Both teams traded leads before Colonna’s put back gave the Highlanders the lead they iced away for the win.
“We just wanted to come out and play strong and we couldn’t get it done at the end,” Williams said. “We’ve played hard all seasons but this is one of our best games, I think.”
Hagemann told his team in the locker room following the game that the effort was never in question.
“I told them not to look back and say what-if because I thought it was a heckuva high school basketball game,” he said.
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