It is near the end of the fourth quarter and the Coppell boys basketball team has a chance to turn around the score. Junior guard James Faison drives to the hoop and scores, bringing the Cowboys within two points. Flower Mound Marcus responds by scoring eight consecutive points, leaving Coppell unable to recover. 

On Friday, Flower Mound Marcus defeated Coppell, 47-37, at CHS Arena. 

After giving up their only lead in the second quarter, the Cowboys trailed behind the Marauders for the remainder of the game. In the third quarter, Marcus widened the margin, leaving Coppell with a gap it  could not recover from. 

“We played well and slowed the game down like we had planned,” Coppell coach Clint Schnell said. “Later, they hit some shots and we let them get away from us so that was really the difference in the game.”

Coppell senior forward Arhan Lapsiwala scored seven of his 19 points in the first quarter alone. Faison was also a notable player, scoring seven points. 

Going into the game, the Cowboys knew they would have to watch out for Marcus junior guard Jayden Ramnanan. 

“Ramnanan is their leading scorer and can light up a scoreboard if you don’t account for it defensively,” Schnell said.

Ramnanan led the Marauders with 15 points followed by senior guard Dominick Harris with 10 points. 

According to Schnell, as the Cowboys move on to the second half of District 6-6A play, the team will focus more on implementing new plays and improving upon its past mistakes. 

“This next round is the second time we play these teams so you have to go in and throw some things in there that everybody hasn’t seen yet,” Schnell said. “You go back and evaluate how you did against those teams the first time to see what worked and what needs improvement so you can fix those things before the next game.”

Coppell plays at Lewisville on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. 

Follow Sukirtha (@suki_muthiah) and @CHSCampusNews on X.