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Cold-shooting Pearland
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| Sam Rayburn's Duran Jackson (34) and a teammate had to battle the long arms and height of Pearland defenders in their quest to upset the Oilers Friday night. |
By ROBERT AVERY
One of the teams in the Sam Rayburn High School gym Friday night shot an ice-cold 19 percent from the floor in the opening period and 30 percent for the first half.
That team wasn’t the eventual losing squad. Pearland couldn’t buy a basket over the opening eight minutes, but because the Oilers were the taller, more muscular, more physical team, they got look after look after look at the bucket, resulting in Pearland leaving Pasadena with a 55-44 District 22-5A win.
A sloppy game by both teams, Pearland received 11 hard-earned points from Kevin Williams,10 by Dorian Purnell plus nine off the bench from Shai Fields and eight by Kelly Lawson as the Oilers improved to 2-0 for the young race.
Between six traveling violations whistled against Sam Rayburn ballhandlers and Pearland’s height altering shots, the Texans never made more than five buckets in any one period. Josh Martinez, Rayburn’s leading scorer, only found the net three times en route to scoring a team-high 10 points. When given a clear look at the basket, the team fell back on its attribute of sinking 3-point goals to sometimes give the Texans hope. The team drained five bonus buckets, meaning Rayburn only sank 11 regular goals all night long.
“Nothing against Rayburn. He prepared his team. They played us tough. We were superior in height and athleticism and they came to play and the game turned out just like we thought it would,” Pearland head coach Steve Buckelew said. “But we missed a lot of shots, a lot of free throws. We had guys in foul trouble. Two of our better players were in foul trouble. They had to sit more than they wanted to.”
It could have been worse. Pearland was only 14-of-26 from the foul line. Ten of their 16 points in the fourth were scored from the line when the team converted 10-of-17.
Sam Rayburn only took eight trips to the foul line, sinking six shots. And six of those attempts came in the final minutes.
Rayburn got an idea of what kind of night is was going to be when Pearland took the opening 10 shots of the game, converting just once on a putback. But when Jose Batres drained one of those 3-point goals, the Texans owned a 15-14 lead.
But on the other side of Rayburn’s only advantage of the night was an 11-1 Pearland eruption. Just to get the lead back, the Oilers missed five straight shots, three of them putback attempts, before Lawson scored on an offensive rebound and finally a successful putback with 4:06 to play in the half.
Pearland then scored goals directly off two of Rayburn’s traveling violations, leading to a 25-16 deficit for the Texans. The hole grew to 39-24 late in the third, but that’s when Rayburn bridged the third and fourth periods with a 7-0 run, capped by a Seth Valenzuela bucket in the lane. Valenzuela would come to the rescue again, sinking the team’s final 3-point goal that created another eight-point deficit, but this time the clock was Rayburn’s enemy.
“We were fortunate to get out of here with a win. I think Rayburn has a chance to be that fourth playoff team. We’re just glad to be 2-0,” Buckelew said.
That team wasn’t the eventual losing squad. Pearland couldn’t buy a basket over the opening eight minutes, but because the Oilers were the taller, more muscular, more physical team, they got look after look after look at the bucket, resulting in Pearland leaving Pasadena with a 55-44 District 22-5A win.
A sloppy game by both teams, Pearland received 11 hard-earned points from Kevin Williams,10 by Dorian Purnell plus nine off the bench from Shai Fields and eight by Kelly Lawson as the Oilers improved to 2-0 for the young race.
Between six traveling violations whistled against Sam Rayburn ballhandlers and Pearland’s height altering shots, the Texans never made more than five buckets in any one period. Josh Martinez, Rayburn’s leading scorer, only found the net three times en route to scoring a team-high 10 points. When given a clear look at the basket, the team fell back on its attribute of sinking 3-point goals to sometimes give the Texans hope. The team drained five bonus buckets, meaning Rayburn only sank 11 regular goals all night long.
“Nothing against Rayburn. He prepared his team. They played us tough. We were superior in height and athleticism and they came to play and the game turned out just like we thought it would,” Pearland head coach Steve Buckelew said. “But we missed a lot of shots, a lot of free throws. We had guys in foul trouble. Two of our better players were in foul trouble. They had to sit more than they wanted to.”
It could have been worse. Pearland was only 14-of-26 from the foul line. Ten of their 16 points in the fourth were scored from the line when the team converted 10-of-17.
Sam Rayburn only took eight trips to the foul line, sinking six shots. And six of those attempts came in the final minutes.
Rayburn got an idea of what kind of night is was going to be when Pearland took the opening 10 shots of the game, converting just once on a putback. But when Jose Batres drained one of those 3-point goals, the Texans owned a 15-14 lead.
But on the other side of Rayburn’s only advantage of the night was an 11-1 Pearland eruption. Just to get the lead back, the Oilers missed five straight shots, three of them putback attempts, before Lawson scored on an offensive rebound and finally a successful putback with 4:06 to play in the half.
Pearland then scored goals directly off two of Rayburn’s traveling violations, leading to a 25-16 deficit for the Texans. The hole grew to 39-24 late in the third, but that’s when Rayburn bridged the third and fourth periods with a 7-0 run, capped by a Seth Valenzuela bucket in the lane. Valenzuela would come to the rescue again, sinking the team’s final 3-point goal that created another eight-point deficit, but this time the clock was Rayburn’s enemy.
“We were fortunate to get out of here with a win. I think Rayburn has a chance to be that fourth playoff team. We’re just glad to be 2-0,” Buckelew said.
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