Plano East senior shooting guard Jordan Mizzel charges to the basket and scores a layup, establishing a lead that would endure throughout the night.
On Friday, Class 6A No. 1 ranked Plano East defeated Coppell, 77-50, at CHS Arena in District 6-6A play. Coming into the game, Coppell was already on the lookout for some key mistakes its team could make when up against the number one team in the state.
“The main thing was just playing physical, playing as a team,” senior forward Arhan Lapsiwala said. “We worked on boxing out rebounds and just playing together tonight.”
Coppell maintained a lead over the Panthers twice, both times occurring early in the first quarter when the score was 5-4 and again after senior guard Gabe Pehl converted a three-pointer making the score 8-5. Afterwards, it was complete offensive domination by Plano East, particularly its senior point guard Xavier Miller, senior shooting guard Jon Tran and junior center DJ Hall. Combined, they scored 39 points.
“We needed to execute better,” Lapsiwala said. “I think we got sped up at times a little bit. We just needed to follow the game plan.”
Plano East put on quite the offensive show throughout the night with slam dunks and cross court heaves from Miller leaving the crowd, including Coppell fans, in shock.
“Personally, I should have led the team a little bit better,” Lapsiwala said. “Sometimes guys get down on themselves a little bit too fast or put on plays too early and I take responsibility for not fixing that.”
With three district games remaining in the season the Cowboys need to have a short memory if they are to have a hope of making the playoffs, as they currently sit in sixth place and needing to finish among the top four in District 6-6A.
“[Coach Clint Schnell] was just talking about how we need to be playing hard, playing more together,” Lapsiwala said. “This loss doesn’t define us and we have three big games left in this season. We need to win those three.”
The team’s remaining three games are against Plano, Plano West and Flower Mound Marcus.
“We have eight seniors and understanding that we only have three games left in our high school careers, that’s going to definitely motivate everyone to play a lot harder and play with a little bit more of an edge,” Lapsiwala said. “I think that’s going to help us win those three.”
Coppell plays Plano on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at CHS Arena.
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