Texan basketball can count this season as wildly successful, building a strong core around a handful of seven young men who bonded in their commitment to work Coach Mike Whitten’s system.
Multiple athletes came out of football’s late season run to add value on the court, quickly working into “basketball shape.” A deep bench helped the lineup keep starters’ legs fresh without noticeable drop-off in production. All of it serves as a harbinger of next year’s great potential — even with the loss of key senior leadership. But, this season is not yet complete.
The Texans were set to conclude district play Tuesday, Feb. 14 in sole possession of second place. Heading into the playoffs with momentum meant beating a good Davenport High School team at home on Parent Recognition Night with all players escorted onto the floor by family members or friends. Seniors Nate Brooks, Colin Fisher-Swan, Cayden Heatly, Dane Hennessee, Miles Schleder, Thomas Watson and Luke Watts were honored with their contributions noted in personalized comments from Coach Whitten and his staff.
Once the preliminaries were completed and game play began, the Texans jumped out hard on the visiting Wolves with turnovers transformed into transition points for the home team. At the end of the first quarter, Wimberley held a 15 point lead at 23-8, thanks to the stingy Texan defense.
“Defensively, we had ten steals as a team and nearly as many deflected passes,” Whitten said. “Not having Colin Fisher- Swan was huge. Even when Dane is out there, if they get by him, you’ll have Colin waiting at the rim.”
“If they get by Colin, now you’ve got Dane waiting at the rim,” he added. “We didn’t really have that rim enforcer and definitely Colin him tonight. I expect to see him ready to go for the playoffs.”
Fisher-Swan missed the contest due to an ankle strain in practice earlier in the day.
Wimberley sustained a considerable lead through the second period to go into halftime ahead 36-23. When the teams rolled back onto the court for the third quarter, something had changed and Davenport came out hot.
Wolves’ players connected on four three-pointers for half of their 24 in the period, including 12 from senior Ayeden Edwards. Meanwhile, the Texans mustered only 11. The score sat tied at 47-47 going into the fourth quarter.
“We hadn’t really been in this situation,” Whitten recalled. “We’ve either been up by 10 or 20 or 30 points in district games or we’ve been down by 10 or 15.”
“It’s a learning experience going into the playoffs,” he mused. “And it’s not an issue, but we hadn’t really been put in a place where things are tight late in a game. Most of these guys hadn’t really been in that situation so that was good for them to go through that.”
The final quarter came down to sheer will. While the Texans’ defense throttled down Edwards, Wolves’ freshman AJ Zamora scored nine points on three threepoint shots. Davenport put up 11 in the quarter while the Texans spread out the scoring. Schleder (5,) Hennessee and Watts (3,) and Heatly and Watson (2) combined for 15 to make the final score 62-58.
“So this was a great experience for us to have going right into the playoffs because I think we’ll be in this situation at some point. I hope we’ll respond by controlling the ball and taking selective shots,” commented Whitten. “I’ll be honest, we didn’t do that very well for a couple possessions there. Overall, I think we did a good job taking care of the ball and grinding down the clock to win the game.”
Hennessee led Texan scoring with 18, followed by Schleder with 15, including four three-pointers, Watts with 11 and Watson with 10. Heatly scored eight on 67% shooting and also collected five rebounds while Hennessee and Schleder pulled down eight apiece. Watson was most active on the boards with seven offensive and six defensive rebounds for a team-leading 13.
Whitten expressed his appreciation for the many who showed up to support the team in what was to be their final home game.
“The crowd is great tonight,” he said. “I really appreciate everybody being here. I know the girls had a tough game last night and a lot of those girls were here and can’t say enough about that support from them. It had a playoff feel — stressful towards the end — but it was great to have everybody here.”
The Texans’ first round bi-district opponent will be the Young Men’s Leadership Academy Lions out of San Antonio. Due to SAISD procedures, a coin toss was held to determine the location of the playoff matchup with the winner receiving home court advantage. The Texans won the toss and played YMLA Monday, Feb. 20 in Texan Gym.
“I’m happy that they get to play another game in this gym and hope it’s not the last of the season,” Whitten said. “I don’t think it will be, truthfully. I think these guys are going to come in refocused, hungry and ready to make a run in the playoffs.”
YMLA showed up ready Monday night. Texan Gym was crowded on both sides as the Loud Crowd student section, parents, family members and the community piled into the home stands for the Texans.
Whitten’s team held their own as Schleder, Hennessee and Watson combined for 12 first-quarter points, allowing nine for the visiting Lions.
“We let them hang in there with us early. We expect that because of our style of play,” Whitten said. “We begin to wear on a team by the end of the half, and it showed tonight. We didn’t help ourselves with free throws in the second period though. We left points on the floor.”
The second quarter was the Cayden Heatly show. Heatly (6) and Watson (5) combined for all eleven Texan points in the period, but where the team had hit 60% of their five free throws in the first, they hit on two of eight for 25% in the second. Thankfully, the Texan defense challenged YMLA aggressively, giving up eight to lead 23-17 at half.
“He (Watson) had 15 on the game and shot free throws much better in the second half than he did in the first half for sure. He’s pretty crafty and was getting fouled a lot around the basket,” shared Whitten. “They were able to get away with a lot of hands and stuff which was really frustrating. Heatly was just a force tonight when we needed him. He stepped in to cover for Colin and helped when we were concerned with fouls against Dane.”
Not to be outdone, Brooks and Watts combined to thwart the Lion offense. Whitten was adamant that a deep run in the playoffs would depend on good guard play.
“Luke just does so much that goes unheralded,” he said. “No one knows the amount of stress he’s under to make things work for us offensively. Nate has got to be an opposing coach’s nightmare. Defensively, he is just a non-stop, chase-you-down get in your face type of player.”
The third quarter led to another three points added to the Texan lead as Watts poured in seven to lead Texan scoring. Scoring 16 in the period compared to the Lions’ 13 set the Texans up with a nine point advantage going into the fourth. Schleder scored six in the final eight minutes of the contest with Hennessee and Watson each adding four. The Texans took the victory 57-44 to advance to the second round of the playoffs.
“Miles was so steady tonight. They (YMLA) really focused on him, allowing Thomas and Dane to get to the basket. He got fouled a number of times without getting the calls from the officials which has to weigh on him,” commented Whitten. “I think it affected the entire team which altered the way we played. We were tentative at times and didn’t want to get into deeper foul trouble.”
Watson scored a team high 15 – likely leading in rebounds as well – with Schleder (12) and Hennessee (11) following closely. Heatly and Watts had nine each in the winning effort.
The Texans face the winner of Tuesday night’s matchup between the Stafford High School Spartans and Bellville High School Brahmas. The game will likely take place at a neutral site Friday, Feb. 24.
