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Ships get 5th win in a row
Published January 23, 2008
MANVEL — At one point, the Brazosport Exporters were 1-2 in the District 23-4A basketball race. But Tuesday night the Ships picked up their fifth consecutive district win with a 78-66 victory over Manvel to keep them more than just in the thick of things.
With La Marque’s 67-63 win over Angleton, Brazosport (19-9 overall, 6-2 district) suddenly is in a three-way tie for second place with the Wildcats and Cougars, and one game behind first-place Friendswood.
The Mavericks did not do Brazosport any favors Tuesday night at Mavericks Gym.
“We’ll take the win, they are a tough team and play tough here at home,” Brazosport coach Ondra Waddy said.
Four of the Ships starters scored in double figures with Darren Woodard leading the way with 18 points. Melvin White finished with 15, Cole Hines had 14 and Dajon King dropped in 12 despite foul trouble.
Brazosport played one of its best periods of the season in the first, as it recorded nine steals of which eight turned into buckets. Four of those came from Woodard, and seven different Exporters put points on the board.
The Ships broke a 7-7 tie as they went on an 8-0 run, finishing with a 29-15 first-quarter lead after Joe Garza nailed a 3-pointer in the waning seconds.
“We’ve been talking about playing 32 minutes, and for the first quarter it really looked good like we were going to play a complete game,” Waddy said. “But we had a few lapses defensively and we still came out with a 12-point win and we’ll take it.”
The Exporters opened the second period like they were prepared to run away with the game as Hines gave them a 20-point advantage, 36-16.
But the Mavericks, a first-year varsity program, chipped away at the lead and only trailed 40-27 by the half.
Brazosport came out hot in the third quarter as buckets by Woodard, White and back-to-back treys by Hines gave the Ships their biggest lead of the game, 50-29.
Manvel again picked away at the lead until sophomore Lair Brenson got hot from the 3-point line. His second one of the game and first of the third period brought them within 20, 58-38.
Refusing to let go, Lair hit two more treys in the period as reserves Two Willis and Jhleon Session chipped in 11 points off the bench pushing the Mavericks to finish the quarter down only seven points, 64-57.
“We got down by 20 and made that run in the third and I just told the kids not to give up,” Manvel coach Greg Devers said. “Brazosport, they just beat us down the court in the first half and we got to slow them down a bit and got into our game … my kids have to understand that when we get down like that we are the ones that have to go on a 6-0 run instead of our opponents.”
It was the closest the Mavericks came to Brazosport as the Ships again widened the lead in the opening moments of the final quarter.
There will be no rest for Brazosport as they travel to Angleton for a 7:30 p.m. game Friday. The Ships and Wildcats went into overtime the first time around with Angleton savoring the win.
“Any time we get together with them it’s a tough contest and I am just glad we took care of business tonight,” Waddy said.
Lair led the Mavericks with 17 points. Manvel (9-17, 2-6) heads to Santa Fe on Friday.
Joel Luna is the sports editor for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 237-0160.
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