On any given game in district basketball season, no one knows for certain what you are bound to get.
A team struggling to stay above water can get blown out by a weaker opponent or might serve up a Herculean effort against a top level team. Regardless, the Wimberley High School Texans are a team that most bring their very best to bear in order to claw their way into the standings.
Navarro High School is one of those teams struggling. Per the norm, the Panthers are loaded with athletes. Heavy lifting, hard charging, grinding players doing damage on the football field that are a dangerous team in basketball if they can keep the score close.
The Texans (2-1 district) traveled to Geronimo Navarro last Tuesday determined to win a district title, knowing that path goes through Boerne. Winning every quarter of every game keeps the goal of a district title in sight.
“Navarro’s struggled a little bit in district play, but they’re competitive. They’re staying within 10 points of some good teams. They’re not a bad team. They’re well coached. We just came out a little slow against them,” shared Texan Coach Mike Whitten.
The Texans won both the first and second quarters by five points each to lead 39-29 at halftime. They continued to press the pedal, playing fast on the court and making a big run late to pull away for a final score of 82-70 in victory.
“We ended up scoring 82 points, but we let them score 70,” Whitten said. “Our defense was lacking a little bit but some of that was our bigs having to go out and guard shooting mid-range. We scored some inside, but they did a pretty good job of limiting our scoring in the paint.”
Scoring stats confirm Whitten’s analysis with Miles Schleder leading all scorers with 32 points, 21 coming from seven three-pointers. Luke Watts scored 18 with Dane Hennessee adding nine while Thomas Watson and Colin Fisher- Swan both pitched in six. The Texans collected 28 rebounds, 13 steals, and six blocks.
The win pushed the Texan record to 17-6 and 3-1 in district before hosting Canyon Lake at home on Friday, Jan. 13. Whitten discussed a change in strategy against the Hawks in preparation for potential matchups.
“We played differently than we normally do tonight and were able to see success,” he explained. “We were a bit more methodical, taking longer possessions and slowing things down. We let them have longer possessions because some of our pressure wasn’t working very well so we got out of that to avoid giving up easy stuff. The guys did a good job of adapting and playing a half court game, which we need to do because other teams are gonna make us do that in the playoffs.”
The Texans found themselves down 1011 at the end of the first quarter with the Hawks opening the second with an eight point run. Down by nine, Schleder and Watts both drained three-pointers before Hennessee scored seven of the next eight Texan points.
“Luke has leadership on the floor and is doing the things that are going to help our guys be successful. He did a great job tonight,” said Whitten, adding, “Those threes were big, big, shots. They were catalysts for a big run, for sure.”
The Texans took a 3226 lead into the half and never looked back, allowing the Hawks a meager three points in the third quarter while posting a dozen. The fourth quarter slowed down with both teams scoring only single digits. Final score was 53-37, Texans.
Five Texan players provided all of the scoring with Fisher-Swan notching four, Watson contributing nine and Watts adding ten. Both Hennessee and Schleder had 15. Hennessee displayed his athleticism on both ends of the floor, picking up roughly 20 rebounds.
“Dane Hennessee was huge. His rebounding was unbelievable. I mean, I bet he had 15 to 20 rebounds. The guy just works his tail off,” noted Whitten. “He did a great job. I’m really proud of him and his effort. He was a big help for us tonight.”
Schleder had three three-pointers to bring his total for the season to 116, one short of last year’s Texan season record of 117.
“He’s one away from last year and we’ve got a bunch of games left to play. He’s number one in the nation right now in three pointers made,” Whitten said regarding Schleder. “It’s tough because guys are pushing and shoving on him to frustrate him but he’s done a good job dealing with it. He’s starting to find other ways to score.” The Texans push their record to 18-6 overall and 3-1 in district and faced the Battlin’ Billies (17-7, 1-3) Tuesday, Jan, 17 at Texan Gym. Friday, Jan. 20, at 6:30 pm, the Texans will close out the first half of district play against Davenport (177, 3-1.) The next Texan home game is Bandera on Tuesday, Jan. 24.
