Fans clenched their seats while others were standing up as there was less than a minute remaining with Flower Mound Marcus behind Coppell only two points. However, the Cowboys were able to pull through by stealing the ball to seal the win. 

Yesterday, the Coppell boys basketball team defeated Marcus, 65-61, for its seventh District 6-6A win at the CHS Arena. The Cowboys are now 7-2 in the district and 23-5 overall. 

The Cowboys were able to maintain a strong lead in the first half with consistent shots, but during the third quarter, the Marauder’s offense got better, posing as a problem for the Cowboys. With Marcus sophomore guard/forward Christian Weddington stealing the ball, breaking the Cowboy’s defense and scoring several two-pointers, the Marauders were slowly creeping up, 41-37, at the end of the third quarter. 

“We played a really good half, so we were just super ecstatic and it just didn’t carry over,” Coppell senior guard Adam Moussa said. 

Both teams entered the last quarter with tense feelings as the ball was being turned over a lot on both sides. The last quarter saw the Marauder’s offense scoring 22 points. However, what was able to keep the Cowboys’ afloat were the free-throw opportunities given to them due to approximately six fouls committed by Marcus.  

“Both teams got a lot more aggressive going to the rim [and] trying to score,” Coppell coach Clint Schnell said. “Anytime you are doing that, there’s more defense, more traffic [and] fouls are going to happen.” 

With free-throws scored by players such as Moussa and Coppell senior guard Brandon Taylor, the Cowboys were able to keep themselves a few points ahead of the Marauders. 

“They were just trying to get back into the game and play aggressive, but all of us met our free-throws so we ended up coming out on top,” Taylor said. 

However, the Cowboys came to the court strong in the beginning of the game, which gave them an immense lead to work off of. Players such as sophomore guard Ryan Agarwal were able to shoot several three-pointers over the Marauders’ defense. With the help of players such as senior forward Clayton Hunter and Taylor, the Cowboys were able to barge through the opposing defense bringing the score, 13-8, at the end of the first quarter. The Cowboys forced turnovers and built a 33-20 halftime lead. 

“We came out and had a great start,” Schnell said. “We pressured them really hard. Offensively, we did a good job fighting open shots and getting a run on them.” 

Coppell plays Irving at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. 

Follow Nishant (@Nishantnm1) and @SidekickSports on Twitter.