MINERAL WELLS —
By TONY EIERDAM
Sometimes in high school sports, there is nothing players or coaches can do when their team is simply overmatched.
Such was the case for the Mineral Wells Rams Friday night in their District 6-3A home game with state-ranked No. 3 Kennedale, the league leaders.
Paced by 23 points from V.J. Hughes and 17 points each from Ty Charles and Kelon Doss, Kennedale ran, pressed and dunked their way to an impressive 95-49 victory and showed everyone in attendance at the MWHS gym why they are ranked so high in Class 3A.
Rams head coach Aaron Pappas saw his team’s overall record drop to 11-14, and 1-2 in district play.
“Kennedale is a great team and they are also well coached,” Pappas said. “They are good at both ends of the floor, they shoot the ball well and they pressure you enough to get you to turn the ball over.
“They are very athletic – they had five or six dunks – and they are simply better than us. That’s the bottom line. They are No. 3 in the state for a reason, and we saw it (Friday).
“My hat is off to them. We probably will see them in Austin (at the state tournament) this year. They are that good.”
The Rams took an early 6-4 lead after a pair of three-pointers by DaShawn Hicks.
But the Wildcats went on a 12-0 run to take an 18-8 lead after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Charles put on a dunking demonstration as he had three jams to help the visitors to a 41-22 lead at the half.
Kennedale put the game away with 26 points in the third period and led 67-35 as the contest moved to the fourth quarter.
Despite the loss, the Rams played hard on both ends of the floor, a quality that has been a staple of this team this season.
“My guys are resilient, and they never quit for one second,” Pappas said. “No matter what the score is these guys are going to play hard, and I can’t ask any more out of them as far as effort.
“We just got to keep working to get better handling the ball and handling pressure. We have to learn to defend. We are not athletic enough to play man on them, but when we went zone they lit us up from the three-point line.
“The kids did what we asked them to do defensively, but Kennedale shot the ball lights out.”
In sub-varsity action, the Rams junior varsity fell, 67-53, but the freshmen won, 48-43.
KHS 18 23 26 28 – 95
MWHS 8 14 13 14 – 49
MWHS – DaShawn Hicks 17, A.J. Williams 8, Ricky Scott 7, Jacoby Prestwood 6, Juvaree Sutton 4, Biren Clardy 3, Ty Ashley 2, Rascellis Williams 2.
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