Bears, Cardinals, and Mustangs do well in tournaments

Little Cypress Mauriceville took third place in the Best of the Bay Tournament held in Aransas Pass the first weekend in December. The Bears beat West Oso 59-46 to grab the third place trophy.

LCM's Alantheon Winn scored 20 points in the win. Bryson Price tallied 11 for the Bears who improved their record to 5-6 on the season. Little Cypress Mauriceville will play at the Hardin Jefferson Hoops Marathon beginning this Thursday.

In other tournament action the Bridge City Cardinals won the Evadale Tournament on Saturday, December 2, after beating Kelly and Anahuac. Cardinals Lincoln Breaux and Aiden Gutierrez were named co-MVPs of the tournament. Aaden Bush of Bridge City was named to the all-tournament team.

The West Orange-Stark Mustangs played in the Nederland Tournament during the first weekend in December. The Mustangs beat the host Nederland Bulldogs on Saturday 60-53 to take third place at the tournament. Bridge City and West Orange-Stark will both be playing in the Bill Tennison Tournament in Orangefield this weekend December 7-9.

The home court did not benefit Little Cypress Mauriceville in its game with the visiting Nederland Bulldogs last week. The Bears fell behind early and never really challenged the Bulldogs in a 73-45 blowout at the Dr. Pauline Colburn Hargrove Gymnasium on Tuesday, November 28.

It was pretty much complete domination by Nederland. The Bulldogs outrebounded Little Cypress Mauriceville and had a much better night shooting from long range hitting a dozen three-point baskets.

LCM Coach Brad Jeffcoat summarized the outcome of the game. "We got whipped today. Everything we do starts with playing good defense and getting rebounds and running. We didn't play any defense at all. The Bulldogs scored inside, they scored outside, and once they got rolling we had no answer for them," Jeffcoat responded.

Nederland scored the first six points to start the game before LCM's Alantheon Winn got the Bears on the board. The Bulldogs added to their advantage before Winn put back a rebound for his second field goal of the opening quarter to make the score 11-4 midway through the first.

The offense for the Bulldogs was led in the early going by post Jayden Davis who tallied 11 points in the initial period. Guard Dallas Rosette made a steal leading one bucket and then drove the lane for a second basket that helped Nederland take an 18-7 lead after one.

Winn scored all seven of the Bears' points in the first quarter. The Bulldogs spread their points around with seven players getting in the scorebook in the first half with Maurice Holmes joining Davis in double figures with 10 points through two quarters as Nederland led 36-18 when the teams went to the locker rooms.

The Bears made an acrobatic alley-oop pass from Jonah Fuller which Winn converted into a basket to begin the second half. Nederland responded with a flurry of three-point baskets that extended the bulge to 24 points at 52-28 in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter started with LCM down 57-28, but the Bears outscored the Bulldogs 17-16 in the final eight minutes. Winn scored seven points in the fourth like he did in each quarter but the second when he dropped in six. Bryson Price hit all six free throws he attempted in the final period.

Three-point shooting was a big plus for the Bulldogs in the game as they had five different players hit at least one of the twelve treys they made. The Bears made five from beyond the arc with three of them coming from Winn.

The high scorer in the game with 27 points was Alantheon Winn who also sank all six of his free throw attempts. Jeffcoat analyzed, "This is the first game I thought he shot it well and finished well. He's our leader and he's got to get some other people involved."

Bryson Price made his 6 points all from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. Price was followed by Jonah Fuller and Braylon Lewis with 5 apiece including each hitting a three.

Three Bulldogs finished in double figures led by Dallas Rosette's 16 that featured four three-pointers. Jayden Davis scored 15 points which was two better than Maurice Holmes with 13 points.