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(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Ty Thompson leans back to make a shot at the basket during the game Tuesday, Jan. 21 against Glen Rose. Thompson led in scoring for the team with 18 points, 16 of which were in the second half of the game. -
(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Cooper Corley looks around a Glen Rose defender as he looks to pass and make a play Tuesday, Jan. 21. Despite and early lead and a continued effort, the Steers fell to the Tigers. -
(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Tyler Allen fights a tight Glen Rose defense to pass to a teammate Tuesday, Jan. 21. -
(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Steers head coach Kyle Wood speaks with the team during a timeout in the game Tuesday, Jan. 21 against Glen Rose. After traveling Friday, Jan. 24 to Stephenville, the team will return home Tuesday, Jan. 28 for a rematch against Brock.
For the first half between the Graham Steers and Glen Rose Tigers the teams were neck and neck. What followed was nothing short of an assault across the court from both teams, with Glen Rose coming out on top.
While the Steers were only ahead for one quarter Tuesday, Jan. 21, they never were far behind the Tigers throughout the game and were not giving up.
“I thought we played extremely tough. Really did a great job of rebounding the ball on both ends of the court,” Head coach Kyle Wood said. “We did a really good job of not allowing them to run and score in transition.”
The Graham team ended their first quarter ahead by two points with the score at 16-14, with shots from Nikolas Wankowicz, Bryce Martin, Brodie Martin and Cooper Corley pushing the team ahead.
The same momentum from the first quarter extended into the second, but with it came a drive from the Tigers to come out on top. The Glen Rose team picked 15 points while holding the Steers to only 12 to bring the score to 28-29 at the half and the Graham team down.
One point was not enough to say that the game was over and even into the third quarter when the Steers were down even farther, they continued to come back up and be close at multiple opportunities.
The third half was owned by Ty Thompson, who scored eight points on 2-point shots and three points on free throws and accounted for 11 of the Steers 18 points in the quarter.
“(Thompson) was able to score really well from inside and did a great job at getting to the rim,” Wood said. “Bryce Martin and Cooper Corley were both really efficient with their scoring.”
He was not the only Graham player showing they had not given up, with Tyler Allen scoring one 3-point and 2-point shot and Brodie Martin picking up two on a free throw near the end of the quarter.
With the team down only eight points moving into the fourth quarter, the game was still not over and the Steers made sure that Glen Rose was well aware. With the highest scoring in the game coming during this quarter, one thing was apparent, the Steers wanted to win.
The two teams went back and forth on scoring throughout the quarter, with Graham closing the scoring gap multiple times before Glen Rose would answer with its own shots to push them away.
Despite a late-game push with 20 points on the board, the Steers could not hold off the scoring rush that came from the Tigers and the game ended in a 67-79 loss for the team which moved 2-2 in district play.
Leading in scoring for the Steers was Thompson with 18 points, followed by Bryce Martin with 12 points, Corley with 10 points, Allen with nine points, Wankowicz with eight points, Brodie Martin with six points and Thomason Burkett and Jack McEntire with two points.
The head coach said the team is always looking to improve communication on the court and limit defensive breakdowns, but likes the determination he is seeing in the players each week.
“I feel like we play extremely tough and hard for the entirety of the game,” Wood said. “We have young men who just love to compete and refuse to be outworked.”
The team traveled Friday, Jan. 24 to Stephenville and will move into the second half of their district schedule Tuesday, Jan. 28 when they have a rematch against Brock at home.
