By JUSTIN UMBERSON
Register Correspondent
Outmatched and outsized, the Gainesville Leopards (0-2) became the first victim of a Whitewright Tigers team that sported a 28-2 regular season record last year.
The Tigers built up an insurmountable lead over the Leopards and cruised to a 62-53 win on Friday night in Gainesville.
“That is a basketball strong traditional program,” said Gainesville head coach Eric Johns. “That’s why I put them on the schedule. We’re here to play hard teams.
“We’re having a tough time winning right now, but what we are trying to do is progress and take baby steps to where we want to get. I don’t like losing but we did some good things tonight.”
Trying to fight off the ferocious Tigers’ defense, the Leopards had tiny passing lanes to get the ball through. Lead by new head coach Shawn Dalbert, Whitewright seemingly got a hand on every pass, and when they didn’t defenders were waiting to corner Gainesville in other ways.
The Tigers’ offense was equally unstoppable. Their athletic ability allowed them to drive into the paint and make layups at will. And when the Leopards tried to shut that down, they were able to knock down the outside shots as well.
“A good player cannot be guarded by one person,” Johns said. “Our plan was to rotate and help on them. For a while we defended them good outside, but we got tired and our inside rotation slipped and they started getting layups.”
The Leopards fell down by as much as 20 points in the fourth quarter, a time when many teams give up and “mail it in,” Johns said. But Gainesville fought back during the final four minutes, and turned the game into a single digit loss when they hit a 3-pointer as time expired.
Coming off their opening game in which they turned the ball over 16 more times than points scored, the Leopards were able to keep the game respectable by never giving up Johns said.
“The one thing about these kids is they never quit,” Johns said. “As long as I’ve got kids who will play four quarters long, I am going to be proud of that. The shots aren’t always going to fall but they’ll bust their tails.”
The Leopards were able to force fouls and get free throw attempts, but made less than half of their attempts. Going forward, Johns knows the team needs to improve at the line in order to be successful.
“Free throws are so much a mental thing,” Johns said. “It’s not so much about talent; it’s just the mental approach to it. We’ve got to get our minds right.”
For Gainesville, Harold Wills had 19 points, Kenyon Morgan and Guy Bradley both scored 7, Caleb Covington had 5, Denzel Johnson added 4, Patrick Westbrook and Dakota Nichols both scored 3, D.J. Harris and Cody Welch each added 2, and Taylor Tremont had 1.
The Leopard’s schedule does not get any easier going forward, as they head to Denton to face the Ryan Raiders on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
