Saturday, December 20, 1997

Local teams lose on first day

By TED DUNNAM / Abilene Reporter-News

Although they saw it happen in decidedly different fashion, Abilene High and Cooper suffered a sudden demise Friday on the first day of the Key City Shootout.

The Eagles saw a last-second 3-point attempt by Jason Busch barely miss the mark, allowing Denton Ryan to escape with an 89-87 victory in a high-powered shootout.

Cooper was victimized by a 14-0 run in less than three minutes that paved the way for a 76-64 victory for Killeen.

In the day's other contest, Denton High had to stave off the Cooper junior varsity for a 42-37 triumph.

Abilene High and the Raiders matched contrasting styles and each proved effective for the respective squads. Denton pounded the ball inside to Dantrell Wright and Michael Danado, who powered their way to 26 and 24 points, respectively.

The Eagles, meanwhile, countered with the hot hand of Marcus Eckert, who had 26 points, including four 3-pointers. The Eagles also managed to hang close with 26-of-31 free throw shooting.

The Raiders' Buddy Parks missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity with five seconds remaining and Ryan holding an 89-87 lead. The Eagles rebounded and got the ball in the hands in Busch.

He pushed the ball upcourt and launched a long, uncontested 3-pointer that bounced off the rim as time expired.

"We wanted to kick the ball out to the wings for that last shot, but they were covered up," AHS head coach Jeff Evans said. "Jason made the right decision. He got a good shot, it just didn't fall.

"I thought we played hard, and I thought we played well most of the game. We didn't block out as well as I wanted, and we didn't front the ball well when it went into the post. They exposed that and took advantage of it."

Ryan head coach Dick Scofield said he got more than he wanted from the Eagles.

"Abilene High plays a style that we're not comfortable playing," Scofield said. "We knew they liked to run and shoot the 3-pointer, and we didn't do a very good job of stopping either.

"In the second half, we did a better job of getting the ball inside. But they still kept coming back at us. I've been coaching for 27 years and I've seen a lot of those last-second shots go in. That was definitely going through my mind then."

Cooper managed to hang close to Killeen for a half despite being on the short end of a huge height differential.

The Cougars closed to within 33-30 in the opening seconds of the third quarter on a 3-point play by Shawn Hudson, but after that the Kangaroos took control.

They went on a 14-0 run to open a 47-30 lead and the Cougars could never pose a serious challenge afterward. Cooper managed to keep the lead near 10 points the remainder of the way, but was unable to put together a flurry of points to threaten Killeen.

"They got that two- or three-minute spurt there where it was turn around, stick it in the basket, turn around, stick it in, turn around, stick it in and that was it," Cooper head coach Dan Harris said. "We didn't do a good job of handling the press right there and it cost us.

"We didn't do a good job of shooting free throws (19 of 36), either. Outside of that, I thought we played pretty good basketball. We hustled the whole game, and we're continuing to make progress. Defensively, we played well, too. We've just got to do a better job rebounding and handling the ball, and we'll be all right."

In the day's first game, Denton High used a 13-4 advantage in the third-quarter to open a 34-26 lead on the Cooper junior varsity and then held on for the five-point win.

In today's games at Abilene High, Denton Ryan plays the Cooper junior varsity at 1:15 p.m.; Denton High meets the Cooper varsity at 3 p.m.; and Killeen takes on Abilene High at 4:45 p.m.

Boys

DENTON (42) -- Stutts 1 2-2 5, Castro 2 0-0 5, Royce 3 0-0 8, Heling 1 0-0 2, Mitchell 3 9-10 15, Wang 3 0-0 6, Smith 0 1-2 1. Totals 13 12-14 42.

COOPER JV (37) -- Agnew 2 1-2 5, Pape 2 2-2 7, Peacock 6 0-0 14, Hollingsworth 1 1-2 3, Allen 1 0-0 2, Gammage 3 0-0 6. Totals 15 4-6 37.

Denton 10 11 13 8--37

Cooper 9 13 4 11--42

3-point goals -- Denton 4 (Stutts 1, Castro 1, Royce 2), Cooper 3 (Pape 1, Peacock 2). Fouls -- Denton 13, Cooper 14. Fouled out -- None.

Boys

DENTON RYAN (89) -- Kinner 3 0-2 6, Wright 10 6-8 26, Mack 4 0-0 10, Parks 3 1-2 7, Danado 12 0-0 24, McKinney 2 0-0 4, John 3 0-0 8, Cox 1 0-0 2, Fuhrman 1 0-1 2. Totals 39 7-14 89.

ABILENE HIGH (87) -- Dolton5 3-4 13, Busch 5 1-1 12, Crisp 2 3-4 8, Starnes 3 0-0 7, Eckert 9 4-4 26, Perkins 1 4-6 6, Massey 0 9-10 9, Rose 1 0-0 2, Blake 1 2-2 4. Totals 27 26-31 89.

Denton Ryan 25 18 21 25--89

Abilene High 25 20 15 27--87

3-point goals -- Ryan 4 (Mack 2, John 2), AHS 7 (Busch 1, Crisp 1, Starnes 1, Eckert 4). Fouls -- Ryan 26, AHS 16. Fouled out -- None. Technicals -- None.

Boys

KILLEEN (76) -- Covington 3 0-0 7, Brooks 3 0-0 8, Trepkowski 3 2-2 8, Branch 1 1-2 3, Hamilton 2 2-3 6, Schwartz 2 2-2 6, Hanchett 2 2-2 6, Burnett 1 0-0 3, Jones 8 0-1 17, Skelton 2 1-2 5, Hunter 1 1-2 3, Venus 2 0-0 4. Totals 30 11-16 76.

COOPER (64) -- Scott 7 7-17 21, Robinson 7 3-8 17, Eales 4 4-6 12, Powell 1 2-2 4, Simoes 1 0-0 2, Hudson 1 1-1 3, Jowers 1 2-2 5. Totals 22 19-36 64.

Killeen 20 13 22 21--76

Cooper 14 13 17 20--64

3-point goals -- Killeen 5 (Covington 1, Brooks 2, Burnett 1, Jones 1); Cooper 1 (Jowers 1). Fouls -- Killeen 23, Cooper 14. Fouled out -- Hanchett. Technicals -- Cooper coach Harris.

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