The Abilene High, Cooper and Wylie boys basketball teams narrowly missed a perfect start to the 2019 Catclaw Classic as the Eagles were unable to finish off a late rally in their second of two games Friday afternoon.

AHS opened the tournament with a 60-33 win over San Angelo Lake View before falling 43-39 to Midland Christian in its final game in Pool A action. The Cougars, meanwhile, won Pool B by beating Seminole 52-42 and Canyon 66-65.

The Bulldogs closed out the night with a 52-29 win over Bullard Brook Hill in their first game in Pool C play.

Cougars open with pair of wins

Josh Henry scored 22 points in the Cougars’ win over Seminole, helping the Cooper offense rebound from a sluggish start en route to the double-digit win.

Noah Garcia added 10 points — eight of which came in the second half — as the Cougars bounced back from a 21-15 deficit at the break. Henry scored 13 of his game-high point total in the second half. All told, eight different players scored for coach Bryan Conover’s squad.

“The guys played with a lot of heart (Thursday),” Conover said. “We were down six at halftime of both games, battled tough and grew up a lot. Everybody got in the games, played well and gave their best effort.”

Conover said his squad has worked on overcoming adversity during the early part of the season and he’s proud of the growth he’s seen to this point.

The pool-clinching game featured a fourth-quarter rally after the squads played to a 45-all tie through three quarters. Canyon went on a 7-0 run to start the final quarter prompting a timeout from Conover.

The Cougars scored the first eight points after the break to set the stage for a frenetic final five minutes.

“I called timeout and usually I have to (encourage them),” Conover said. “They were like ‘Hey, this is nothing. We can come back from this.’ It was from them and not from me, which is great to see because in order for us to be successful, we have to have some player leadership because a coach’s voice goes deaf after a while.”

Cooper had to sweat out the win over Canyon late, though, after Henry missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and then Miles Huffhines was fouled with 0.8 seconds to play on a 3-point attempt with Cooper up 66-64.

Huffhines missed the first two and — after a Cooper timeout — attempted to miss the third but it bounced off the rim and in to provide the final point.

Henry had 19 points, C.J. Jemison 18 and Garcia 10 in the win. Cooper now waits to see how the rest of the pool play shakes out to see when it plays again.

POOL B

COOPER 52, SEMINOLE 42

Seminole — Elijah Beard 6 2-4 18, Kross Carter 1 0-0 2, Caden Cottrell 1 0-0 3, Parker Freeman 3 1-1 9, River Powers 1 1-2 3, Blake Hamblin 2 1-2 5. Totals 14 5-9 42.

Cooper — Josh Henry 8 3-3 22, Noah Garcia 5 0-3 10, Jaelyn Rivera 1 0-0 2, Colin Reed 1 0-0 2, Kaden Davis 2 0-0 5, CJ Jemison 1 1-2 3, Ashton Curtis 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 4-8 52.

3-Point Goals — Seminole 7 (Beard 4, Freeman 2, Cottrell); Cooper 4 (Henry 3, Davis). Fouled Out — None. Technical Fouls — None. Total Fouls — Seminole 14; Cooper 12.

COOPER 66, CANYON 65

Cooper — Josh Henry 6 4-5 19, Deshawn McDonald 1 0-1 2, Noah Garcia 3 4-4 10, Jaelyn Rivera 0 3-4 3, Colin Reed 2 1-2 7, Andrew Gonzalez 1 0-0 2, Kaden Davis 2 1-2 5, CJ Jemison 7 2-3 18. Totals 22 15-21 66.

Canyon — Grayson Hack 5 0-0 13, Reese Seideman 1 0-1 3, Miles Huffhines 7 1-3 18, Jett Meek 3 0-0 6, Stephen Ferguson 2 2-2 6, Joe Shaw 5 0-0 12, Kemper Jones 3 1-2 7. Totals 26 4-8 65.

3-Point Goals — Cooper 7 (Henry 3, Reed 2, Jemison 2); Canyon 9 (Hack 3, Huffhines 3, Shaw 2, Seideman). Fouled Out — None. Technical Fouls — Cooper bench. Total Fouls — Cooper 11; Canyon 18.

Eagles split pair of games on opening day

Abilene High opened the day with all but one player on the roster scoring as the Eagles outscored the Chiefs 30-7 over the middle two quarters to seize control of their tournament opener.

Jackson Stevens had a game-high 11 points for the Eagles, who rallied from a 16-14 first-quarter deficit by outscoring Lake View 18-5 in the second.

The Eagles couldn’t find that same magic in their second game against Midland Christian, a squad that plays the same in-your-face style as AHS. Midland Christian held coach Justin Reese’s squad to 11 points in the first half.

“I was proud of how our kids battled as we were down 10 at the half,” Reese said. “They really competed on both ends of the court in the second half, we just couldn’t buy a bucket in the first half. We kind of found some rhythm in the second half and made a run.”

AHS came out of the locker room with a 19-point third quarter but couldn’t sustain that momentum in the fourth quarter. The Eagles closed the gap to 34-30 heading into the final period.

The inability to complete the rally could have come down to the fact that Reese’s squad was on its second game of the day while the Mustangs had fresh legs.

“Midland Christian was fresh and that was our second game in four hours,” Reese said. “I was proud of how our kids battled back in the second half.”

POOL A

ABILENE HIGH 60, SAN ANGELO LAKE VIEW 33

Lake View — Ricardo Juarez 2 0-0 4, Johnny Espinosa 3 2-4 9, Jesse Greer 7 3-3 18, Ryan Avalos 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 5-7 33.

Abilene High — Pooh Johnson 4 0-0 8, Anthony Livingston 1 0-0 2, Jalen McGee 3 0-0 7, Khristian Johnson 3 0-0 6, Dylan Wright 2 4-4 8, Isaac Montes 1 0-0 3, Jackson Stevens 5 0-0 11, D.J. Modest 4 0-0 9, Nathan Watts 1 0-0 2, Devyan Wilkins 2 0-2 4. Totals 26 4-6 60.

3-Point Goals — Lake View 2 (Espinosa, Greer); Abilene High 4 (McGee, Montes, Stevens, Modest). Fouled Out — Espinosa. Technical Fouls — None. Total Fouls — Lake View 12; Abilene High 9.

MIDLAND CHRISTIAN 43, ABILENE HIGH 39

Abilene High — Pooh Johnson 1 0-0 2, Jalen McGee 0 0-2 0, Joe Joe Escobedo 1 5-8 7, Khristian Johnson 3 0-0 7, Jackson Stevens 1 0-0 3, D.J. Modest 3 0-0 8, Nathan Watts 6 0-0 12. Totals 15 5-10 39.

Midland Christian — Jaythan Jones 1 0-0 2, Mitch McCann 5 0-0 14, Daniel Elliot 1 1-2 3, Joseph Venzant 6 8-10 20, Rayshad Chambers 2 0-0 4, David Beebe 0 0-1 0. Totals 15 9-13 43.

3-Point Goals — Abilene High 4 (Modest 2, Johnson, Stevens); Midland Christian 4 (McCann 4). Fouled Out — Watts. Technical Fouls — None. Total Fouls — Abilene High 18; Midland Christian 11.

Bulldogs roll to easy win over Brook Hill

It was a defensive effort that made Wylie coach Gregg Ruffin proud as his team kicked off its own tournament on Thursday night.

“We held somebody to 29 points,” he said. “Our defense all year long, for the most part, has been pretty good. Offense can come and go, but defensively we have put ourselves into some opportunities to win games.”

That defensive prowess allows Wylie to head into Friday’s game against Georgetown East View with a chance to win its pool and advance to the championship pool.

“We want to try and win any tournament that we get into,” Ruffin said. “(In order) to do that, you have to win the first game. That may not be something that we (always) accomplish, but we did that in our tournament.”

Ten different players scored for the Bulldogs, who jumped out to a quick 15-7 lead after the first quarter and never looked back en route to the win.

Payton Brooks had a game-high 15 points for the Bulldogs while Dylan Jennings added 10 points. No other Wylie player added more than seven points, but the balance is what Ruffin wants to see early in the year.

“We had different people step up, and I thought that Dylan came in and hit some 3s,” Ruffin said. “We have got to have some more outside threats that step up and that will open up our inside game. We did some really good things inside with our post players and had some good passes over the top to finish around the bucket. You’re not going to be able to do that if you can’t stretch the defense.”

Of the 17 baskets that Wylie made in the win, seven of them came from 3-point range.

Brooks hit a trio of 3s and Jennings added a pair. The other two came from Luke Powell and Deandre Bone.

POOL C

WYLIE 52, BULLARD BROOK HILL 29

Brook Hill — Tyjuan Cannon 1 2-2 4, Joseph Johnson 2 1-1 5, Chandler Fletcher 4 3-4 11, Preston Hardee 1 0-0 3, Grayson Murry 2 0-0 4, William Roberts 1 0-0 2. Totals 11 6-7 29.

Wylie — Luke Powell 1 0-0 3, Colby Tanner 0 2-3 2, Dylan Jennings 3 2-2 10, Shayden Payne 1 1-2 3, Payton Brooks 5 2-2 15, Deandre Bone 1 0-0 3, Walker Piland 3 0-0 6, Conner Ruffin 0 2-2 2, Avery Brekke 3 1-1 7, Dante Cano 0 1-2 1. Totals 17 11-14 52.

3-Point Goals — Brook Hill 1 (Hardee); Wylie 7 (Brooks 3, Jennings 2, Powell, Bone). Fouled Out — None. Technical Fouls — Johnson. Total Fouls — Brook Hill 15; Wylie 13.

CATCLAW CLASSIC

Thursday Games

Pool A: Abilene High 60, San Angelo Lake View 33; Midland Christian 43, Abilene High 39

Pool B: Cooper 52, Seminole 42; Cooper 66, Canyon 65

Pool C: Georgetown East View 54, Brook Hill 47 (OT); Wylie 52, Brook Hill 29

Friday Games

9:30 AM: Seminole vs. Canyon

11:15 AM: San Angelo Lake View vs. Midland Christian

1 PM: Georgetown East View vs. Wylie

Note: Tournament seeding games will be played a 4 p.m., 5:45 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Those pairings will be known after the Georgetown East View-Wylie game.