Texans keep district championship in sight

The past few years of district play for the Wimberley High School Texan basketball team have been a battle.

Boerne High School has won district with either Fredericksburg High School or the Texans finishing as the runner up with Davenport High School somewhere in the mix. With the Texans playing basketball at a high level, closing out the first half of the season with wins against the Fredericksburg Billies and the Boerne Wolves would make a statement going into the second half.

The Billies came calling Tuesday, Jan. 17 at Texan Gym with 6’ 10” senior Daniel Shultz at the post position. Fredericksburg looked to slow down the Texan break and force the scoring outside — not the wisest choice when Miles Schleder was hitting from the perimeter.

Coach Mike Whitten had drilled the scheme into his Texans to combat The Billies.

“They want to play slow, work the ball into their 6’ 10” kid in the post and dictate tempo,” he said. “We weren’t going to allow that so we pushed pace all week. Our guards got up on them, didn’t let their guards get comfortable so they had trouble getting the ball inside.”

“It wasn’t a secret that we were going to body up a tall kid inside,” Whitten continued. “Colin (Fisher-Swan) and Dane (Hennessee) did an awesome job of playing him hard and physical. They brought a warrior mentality to the game.”

Their effort inside showed with Schultz scoring only six from the field and adding three free throws for nine points, most coming in the second quarter, well below his season average of 15 points per game. Schultz scored no points in the second half.

“My job was to stay on him, keep my hands up, lean on him and make sure he knows I’m not scared of how big he is,” added Fisher-Swan. “A key point is that he only had a handful of free throws. We weren’t fouling him but kept pressure on him to stay out of the paint.”

“I wasn’t going to get dunked on,” declared Hennessee, noting that his friends in the student section were going to video it and post it online if he did. “I had said before the game that we were going to buckle down on him and he wasn’t going to get more than six. We accomplished that and had a great team win tonight playing our kind of basketball.”

The Texans were hot out of the gate, putting up 23 points to Fredericksburg’s eight. Hennessee had eight points in the quarter while Miles Schleder (2) and Thomas Watson (1) combined for points from behind the three-point line. The Texans carried that momentum into the second quarter, posting 26 points in the quarter — including 17 from Schleder who had three three-pointers in the period. The Texans led 4924 at the half.

“Miles was shooting the ball really well. They adjusted their defense to cover him but he still either made shots or found the open man,” commented Whitten. “In the third, we began kicking the ball out. Both Dane and Thomas drained threes which forced them to react defensively.”

The Texans outscored the Billies 24-17 in the third quarter as Whitten began rotating fresh players to the court. Going into the fourth, Fredericksburg began slowing the pace and dumping the ball down inside to increase their scoring. The Billies got into a rhythm but could only muster two more points than the Texans in the quarter. The final score of the contest was 84-54.

Schleder led all scorers with 36 points, including eight three-pointers to push his total to 124 for the season. Hennessee scored 13, leading the Texans in rebounds with 10.

Friday, Jan. 20 found the Texans traveling to San Antonio to play a hungry Davenport Wolves team desperate for a win. The Wolves started 3-0 in district play only to lose two straight to Bandera High School and Boerne coming into Friday’s contest. The Texans sat alone in second place at 4-1 in the district.

“They’re a scrappy, competitive team. We got the game we expected — a tight, close, back and forth struggle with a team that matches up well with us,” noted Whitten. “They were going to fight every minute of the game because it was important for both teams.”

The stakes were high as a loss for either team could cost not only a shot at the district championship but also the chance of a second-place finish. Neither could afford the loss, and the interaction between the teams displayed the intensity of the moment.

The Texans took advantage of fast break opportunities early. With some of the better front court players in the district, Davenport kept the score close in the first quarter only trailing the Texans by five and the end of the first period and closed the gap to three by halftime, 35-32.

“Our outside shots weren’t falling the way we’re accustomed to and we had size on them inside. We began feeding the ball toward the middle,” said Whitten. “Dane ended up with a big night. He played huge for us and made an impact on the floor on a night we needed it.”

Watts had a “Luke Watts” night. He was not the highest scorer but fed the rest of his team with seven assists while collecting six rebounds, tied with Hennessee and Fisher-Swan for second most for the Texans.

“We had great effort from the bench,” declared Whitten. “A couple of guys that aren’t on the floor as much came on and got us going. Nate Brooks is a buzzsaw. He comes in with high energy, creating chaos and turnovers. I love watching it. Drew Brasher was a big time player. He fought hard in the lane and hustled for rebounds. We needed a spark when the game got close late and Drew provided it.” That spark came in the fourth quarter when Davenport had drawn down a 10-point Texan lead to within six. The momentum had been in flux and leaning toward the Wolves when Brasher dropped a three-pointer. His shot pushed the lead back to nine and removed the energy from Davenport’s rally. The Texans won in a game that was hotly contested — to the point of being chippy — 61-53.

The Texans hosted third-place Bandera on Tuesday, Jan. 24 and go on the road Friday, Jan. 27 to face the Boerne Greyhounds to keep their district championship hopes alive. Tipoff in Boerne is 6:30 p.m.