By John Loop
Sports Writer
The Cowboys have their work cut out for them this week, facing two highly ranked Texas state-ranked teams on Coppell’s court.
The South Grand Prairie Warriors (14-1) march into Coppell on Tuesday night, and the week ends with a highly anticipated matchup with Richardson-Berkner (10-4).
Coach Kit Pehl hopes that hosting these two top-flight programs will give them a big home court advantage.
“These two programs are both playoff-caliber programs,” Pehl said. “Even though you are not guaranteed to see either of them in at least the first round, they are still dominant teams.”
The Warriors come into tomorrow’s matchup with only one loss on the road, a 60-37 drubbing at the hands of the DeSoto Eagles on Dec. 1.
The Cowboys have won two of their last three games at home, so the intangibles seem to favor Coppell.
Both Grand Prairie and Berkner are both long, talented, athletic teams who get scrappy play from all positions, but mainly their guards.
Grand Prairie senior Ben Emelogu had a strong showing at the Houston-Cypress Hoops Invitational, in which the Warriors finished first. Emelogu is also labeled the state’s No. 19 ranked recruit, but has already committed to play for Virginia Tech.
For Berkner, senior guard Kendal Harris, a USC commit, is ranked No. 18 in the state. Harris pairs with junior Keenan Evans, who is the Class of 2014’s No. 16 ranked prospect.
Still, Pehl knows that Coppell has to hone in on their assignments but keep these guys in check at the same time.
“Those guys are very hard to stop defensively,” Pehl said. “We have to guard them as a team.”
This will be a tough matchup for the Cowboys, as their guards are smaller than usual. But Pehl thinks they are up to the challenge.
“They (our guys) are an athletic bunch,” Pehl said. ”If we can make both of our opponents think and defend at the same time, then we will have the advantage.”
When the Warriors step on the court tomorrow night, and likewise, when Berkner does the same thing on Friday, Pehl knows the Cowboys will be ready.
“As a coach, you relish these types of games,” Pehl said. “I always want the opportunity to test my guys in situations like this.”
Cowboys finish 4-1 in Hurst Bell Texas Healthcare Showcase
Coppell won 3 of 5 games in this past weekend in the Hurst Bell Texas Healthcare Showcase.
In the first game on Friday, the Cowboys dominated the Texans of Justin Northwest, finishing the game with a seven-point advantage at 49-42.
The next game, which was played Saturday morning, was against the Trojans of Euless Trinity. The Cowboys also won this game as well, by 15 points.
The second game of Coppell’s Saturday (third of the tournament) was against Amarillo High School. This would be the Cowboys’ third and final victory of the tournament, but by the largest point margin of the three games (20).
The fourth game, a stunning international matchup, was a heartbreaking loss to a tough Australian National high school squad by a mere two points.
The Cowboys moved on to play their final game of the weekend, against Garland Lakeview, which Coppell lost by eight, 60-52.
After the tournament, the Cowboys’ record stands at 5-6.
-Tanner McCord
Boxscore snafu confuses Schau, others
Senior post Everett Schau has hardly gotten off the bench during his short 15-game varsity career.
So when he looked at the box score for the Garland Lakeview game and saw he had scored 25 points, he knew something was not quite right.
The Dallas Morning News High School Gametime crew had attributed all 25 of those points to Schau, which instead should have been credited to junior post Simi Socks.
But all was not lost in the weekend for the senior benchwarmer. Schau knocked down his first basket of this season on Friday against Justin Northwest. He also tallied two rebounds, one block, and one assist in 5:41 of gameplay.
Schau shared the excitement of his first varsity bucket via Twitter.
“2 points. 2 board. 1 block. 1 assist,” Schau wrote.”Took a long time to get those points, but I’m glad I stuck with it.”
Schau was also accepted into Purdue University the same day.
-John Loop
