TxHoops

I was hoping so too so that you could attend. We could use some of that Kountze Lion mojo. Christopher Kovatch (one of the board members) usually does too.

Orangefield has never played that level of defense and I give almost of all of that credit to Whitmire. It wasn’t the easiest gig in the world but he’s gotten his system in place now and most of those kids have learned how to really play aggressive defense under his tutelage. I was watching online so I didn’t see the dead ball stuff. I guess it depends on the official and the nature of the conversations. Some players are great at chopping it up with them and some officials like it, some don’t want to be engaged at all. By and large, it kind of depends on the context. From what I’ve seen this year, the team has greatly improved with that stuff (granted they needed vast improvement from last season) and have seemed to have matured. But again, I didn’t notice any of that so I can’t really speak intelligently on what happened on Friday. I, like you, have been greatly impressed with his game. I’ve seen him since he was barely bigger than the ball shooting on goals between varsity games and knew he was a talent. But he seems to get better every time I see him. Obviously Fairfield was the more athletic team (apparently full of football kids which made sense after watching the game) but he was seemingly doing whatever he wanted with the ball. They couldn’t stay in front of him, disrupt him in the slightest with full court pressure, and he’s just so smooth with the ball. One play in particular really impressed me. After making 4 FTs in a row and the ball his hands up 2 with under 2 minutes to go, he had sliced through the backcourt pressure and was approaching mid court. I see him about to advance the ball off the dribble with his left hand to his teammate up the floor which is, in general, the correct basketball play (obviously). But in the situation (Fairfield had to foul), I’m thinking “no! Keep it!” But instinctually and unselfishly, he flipped the ball ahead and his teammate was fouled. That particular teammate is also a good FT shooter and made both to put the lead back to 4. But it showed me what I knew to be true about the Scales kid. As gifted as he is, he knows how to play the game and is unselfish (sometimes to a fault). But he’s one of those rare players who just makes all of his teammates better. When you are at a school like Orangefield, I don’t think you can make a run like this one without a kid like that. And I haven’t seen one close to him in the 30ish years I’ve been watching Bobcat basketball.

Ditto

You brought up defense. What about blocked shots (4), altered shots (a ton), etc? I would say in a 2 point game (vs Marcus), keeping the other team from being able to effectively score in the paint probably had a big impact on the win. And by probably, I mean definitively. But hey, your guys two points and 4 boards in that same game was probably a bigger difference maker. In the state championship game, when he had 8 & 10 (with 3 blocks), your guy had 3 pts and 5 bds while leading the team in turnovers (4). We can keep arguing but we can agree to disagree. Obviously Cam got better over the next two years. And despite your friends who were parents of his teammates, if you don’t think they don’t win it all that year without him, I’m not the only one who would disagree with you. Ronnie Courtney would too.

Yeah Gatlin was solid, but me thinks you are not giving enough credit to the value of having a 6-11 kid in the middle. He was a much bigger factor than Gatlin in Austin that year. They certainly don’t beat that great FM Marcus team (that went back to back the next two years with Marcus Smart and Phil Forte) without him. No offense but no one is putting your guy Gatlin in a “big 3” with Clark and Richardson over Cam. As you know, Cam and Kelly were the only two burger boys off of those teams. And I remember those teams well - my best friend’s sons lost in the state finals to Marcus in ‘12 before bringing home the hardware the following year in route to McD AA game appearances themselves…

Had never made it past the third round until this year.

He was still a force and ended up being the most notable though. But you’re right. Clark and Richardson were probably the best two, although most wouldn’t recognize their names 15 years later.

Courtney won one at FB Bush with that Cameron Ridley team. Definitely two of the all time Texas HS basketball coaching legends.

Since 2020

10-12 FTs in last few minutes of game too. Scales 6-6, Thomas 2-2, and Willis 2-4. Fairfield really dominated the paint on the offensive end and weren’t terribly big. Just a lot stronger. Fortunately, they had no answer for OF’s guard play.

OF 74 FF 68 F

Scales gets fouled and hits his 3rd and 4th in a row to extend lead to 68-64. Fairfield comes down and gets another easy basket inside 68-66 47ish seconds left. Bobcats ball after timeout.

Fairfield and stay in front of Scales but Bobcats getting exposed inside. OF leads 66-64 with 1:13 left and the ball coming out of timeout.

There is no better source on Texas HS basketball, especially in this region.

#6 Bridge City Lady Cards advance to state semifinals against the winner of #13 Carrizo Springs-#11 Fredricksburg per Ashly Elam.