Andrew Porter scored nine points and Alex Lawrence and Coy Karrer both chipped in eight points to lift Canyon to a 67-34 win over cross-county rival Canyon Lake to open the regular season at the Cougar Den on Tuesday.
First-year coach Brad Lacey was pleased with the overall effort from his team, but knows that this is just the first of many games this season.
“It was nice to get the first win tonight,” Lacey said. “We were all really excited to open the season and the intensity was great to see.”
But the Cougars had some opening night jitters to overcome, as the home team coughed the ball up 17 times in the first half that forced Lacey to stress patience at halftime.
“When you turn the ball over that much in one half, you have to try and calm the team down,” Lacey said. “Taking care of the ball was an obvious point of emphasis during halftime and I think the team really responded, as they only committed four turnovers in the second half.”
Canyon Lake came into the game missing a number of regular starters, as coach Jeff Maynard opened the season with some six junior varsity players against Canyon.
“I let the players that just finished with football season stay at home to get some more practice in,” Maynard said. “Despite the loss of experience, I’m really pleased with the way we played. We executed and played hard all night.
“It’s good to give some players that haven’t had a chance to play on varsity a chance to get their feet wet and experience the speed of the game. That is always helpful in case someone goes down with an injury. You know that they’ve had a taste of what to expect.”
Lacey replaced longtime Canyon coach Kenny Rotzler, who retired after 18 years on the sidelines for the Cougars.
The first-year coach helped guide San Antonio Madison to a 34-2 overall record and a District 27-5A championship last season while serving as an assistant and has served as coach and athletic director at Class A Utopia High School, where he guided the basketball team to a regional final appearance in 2004.
But Lacey said that the transition has been a smooth one with the players, who are learning a new system and philosophy under the new coach.
“I credit the kids for responding to the coaching change,” Lacey said. “There has been no hesitation and everything has been very smooth. This has been a big change for them but they’ve bought in to my coaching philosophy and they’re only going to get better.”
The Cougars are back on the court Friday when they host Floresville at 7:30 p.m. and the Hawks travel to play in the three-day Lockhart Tournament beginning on Thursday.
Cougarettes earn first victory
Canyon’s Sharis Vader dropped in 21 points and Taylor Billingsley shook off a cold shooting streak to score 13 points to drive the Cougarettes to a 54-32 win over Fox Tech at the Cougar Den on Tuesday night.
Billingsley hit a trio of 3-pointers in the third quarter that helped Canyon its lead to 21 points, as the Cougarettes held on to a double-digit lead they build after the first quarter when they led by 11 points.
“I don’t think we rebounded the way I thought we should have, but its good to get a win,” Canyon coach Terry Tennell said. “It was nice to see Taylor finally get her stroke back. She and the rest of the team had been struggling and it was nice to see our offense get on track.”
Freshman power forward Chamaya Turner had 15 points and countless rebounds to give the Cougarettes a much-needed inside/out game that Tennell said would be beneficial in the tough District 27-4A.
“I told the team that we wanted to go inside/out to take advantage of some mismatches,” Tennell said. “I thought the team did a great job getting inside and a nice job of rebounding. I tell the kids all the time that someone has to pick up the trash and they went after every loose ball.”
Canyon took a 29-14 lead at the half and scored 20 points in the third to put the game away.
The Cougarettes are back in action Thursday when they travel to play in the SAISD Tournament, which begins on Thursday.
