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| 1/11/2010 11:50:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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JERRY SAULMAN for Leader
The 33’s (McNeil’s Kenny Lewis and Cedar Park’s Tyler Stromberg) duel for the upper hand in Friday night’s matchup at McNeil High School. |
| McNiel 54, Cedar Park 49
1 2 3 4 F
Cedar Park 8 7 20 14 49
McNeil 11 10 19 14 54
McNeil: Blair Williams 18, Kyle Martin 10, Hayden Worrell 7, Kenny Lewis 6, Brett Worrell 5, Max Pepper 5, Robert Waters 3; Cedar Park: Dylan Cox 15, Kollin Steichen 7, Greg Huntington 9
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Mavs outlast T' Wolves
Williams leads McNeil with 18 points in win over Cedar Park
By MARK SWANSON
Special to the Leader
In the beastly District 16-5A, one thing is certain - no one-basketball team is appreciably better than the other. That means that you have to do what McNeil did Friday: The Mavericks protected their home court.
After a lackluster first half, McNeil stepped up its play in the second to outlast Cedar Park, 54-49. That improves the Mavericks' district record to 2-2 and keeps them in line with the rest of the district.
"We're like the Big East," McNeil coach Darrell Hagemann said. "We're just beating each other up. It's probably going to be like that all year. So, it becomes much more important to defend your home court, because we're going to be mashing each other all year."
It didn't come easily, though. McNeil (11-13, 2-2) had a seemingly comfortable 47-39 lead after Hayden Worrell hit two free throws with 5:49 left in the game. However, a three-point play and a three-pointer by Cedar Park (11-11, 2-2) on consecutive trips down the court made it 47-45 with 3:48 left. What was a game almost in the bag was suddenly in doubt.
McNeil held itself together, though, especially at the free throw line. The Mavericks made nine of 10 free throws in the last three minutes to stave off the rally. Even then, Cedar Park had a shot to tie the game late. Cedar Park's Brandon Allen had an open three-pointer with 21 seconds left and down 50-47. The shot went wide and McNeil got the rebound. Robert Waters hit two free throws to extend the lead back to five. Kenny Lewis did the same with 11.7 seconds left to clinch the game.
McNeil led at halftime, 21-15, but neither team was playing particularly well offensively. That all changed in the third quarter when, suddenly, the tempo ramped up and both sides began going basket for basket. The Timberwolves scored more in the third quarter than they did in the entire first half. McNeil was led by Blair Williams with 18 points and Kyle Martin had 10. Cedar Park was paced by Dylan Cox with 15.
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