By Mary Whitfill
Features Editor
The Coppell Cowboys basketball team finished their regular season with a 60-47 win against the Denton Guyer Wildcats on Tuesday, securing their second place standing in district 7-5A. This win finalized the Cowboys record of 24-8 this season.
Cowboy seniors led the team in scoring with Jett Raines scoring 21 points, followed by Austin Mankin with 11 points. Heath Heidtke and Warren Oishi each had eight points and Martin Kalev had six.
“This season has been great just trying to go out and pay hard,” Raines said. “I don’t see a reason that we can’t keep winning [in playoffs], we’re just taking it
one game at a time.”
The Coppell offense was lacking in the first quarter, scoring only nine points to Denton Guyer’s eight, but it quickly picked back up in the second quarter with a total of 19 points made by the Cowboys.
The Cowboys remained strong through the third quarter, but their defense weakened in the final quarter, allowing Denton Guyer to score 19 points. Coppell retaliated with a fourth quarter score of 17.
“It felt great to finish off my senior year in such a manner,” Kalev said. “After a long season, it’s great to end it with a win. We’ve become a good team and the chemistry we’ve gotten by this time is great, it’s really unique.”
Coppell finished the season with a district record of 10-4, losing to only Keller Central and Keller Fossil Ridge. Coach Brad Chasteen feels that overall the Cowboys had a season to look back on and be proud of.
“The seniors and I discussed it earlier today and we’re disappointed in a couple of areas, like not beating Fossil Ridge or Keller Central,” Chasteen said. “But we were also thinking that it really doesn’t matter anymore, we are in the state playoffs and we have a good seat and a winnable game in the first round. We are really excited to get this last one behind us so we can prep for the next team.”
The Cowboys first state playoff game will be on Tuesday at The Colony High School.
“I can’t promise anything except that we are going to play really hard and if we make the shots I think we will do well,” Chasteen said.
