Kountze's run ends with loss to New Waverly

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http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/sports/local/kountze_s_run_ends_with_loss_to_new_waverly.html

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Last One Standing - Austin 2010

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Under-Dogs?

  Top-ranked New Waverly takes Kountze’s best shot, advances
By Gene Schallenberg
Staff Reporter

LIVINGSTON — It doesn’t get much better than that.

After three quarters of a dogfight between two of the best that Class 2A has to offer, the Bulldogs were the ones who made plays down the stretch.

The top-ranked Dogs are moving on to the Region III tournament for the third straight season after beating fourth-ranked Kountze 77-65 on Monday.

Playing in front of a capacity crowd at Livingston Junior High on Monday — more than 100 fans had to be turned away at the door due to the gym not being able to fit any more people — in a game in which every possession was crucial, Kountze gave New Waverly all it could handle. But it wasn’t enough.

“This was crazy,” New Waverly senior Kyren Watts said. “Coming in against Kountze, people were looking at us like we were the underdog and we took that personally. We knew that we just had to stick together and we would win. We weren’t going to leave here without a W. We were prepared well for this game.”

No matter what the Bulldogs (30-3) did, the Lions fired back. But after the Bulldogs took the lead for good with a little less than five minutes to play, their defense did what it does best. The Dogs did not allow easy buckets and forced a few turnovers.

With a little more than three minutes to play, the Dogs came up with two big turnovers that put all the game’s momentum in the Bulldogs’ hands.

Lions guard David Johnson, who was attacking the basket and lost control of the ball, tried to save the ball from going out of bounds but threw it right to Watts at midcourt. Watts took it all the way for an easy layup.

Then after X’Zavious Harrison knocked the ball away near Kountze’s basket, Harrison stole the inbound pass and threw the ball nearly the length of the court to Arthur Reece, who easily laid the ball in to give the Dogs a five-point lead with a little less than three minutes to play.

“We just frustrated them,” New Waverly head coach Bill Goffney said. “We frustrated them big-time with our defense. They never could settle into a rhythm.

“We were not going to play a track meet with these guys. We were going to lock down into what we call our blue-collar defense and they couldn’t handle it. We kept them off-balance and flustered. We had turnovers here and there, but more importantly was that they had turnovers. They had big turnovers and we capitalized.”

The Lions (33-3) couldn’t hit desperation shots down the stretch, but the Bulldogs did and walked away with the victory.

After senior post Kyren Watts ran into foul trouble in the first half, Goffney didn’t waste any time going to his bench. Post Wes Wagner had one of his best games of the season.

Wagner came in grabbing rebounds for second-chance opportunities, and even hit the Dogs’ only 3-pointer of the night, finishing with 11 points.

“I knew I had to come in and step up,” Wagner said. “Kyren’s a big leader for us and he scores a lot of points. I know I had to come in and do something.”

Playing the nightcap of a doubleheader at Tyler Junior College on Friday, the Bulldogs will play Arp at 8 p.m. New Waverly’s game will follow the first semifinal between Gladewater Sabine and Anahuac.