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February 20, 2004
Eagles to play Westlake in warmup
The Ellison boys basketball team will play Austin Westlake
today in a playoff warmup game at the Burger Center in Austin.
The game is set for 7 p.m.
Both teams earned
byes through the first round of the playoffs by winning their respective districts: 17-4A for EHS (24-7) and 25-5A for the
Chaparrals (25-7).
February 21, 2004
Eagles drop warmup game to 5A Westlake
By Tony Altobelli
Killeen Daily Herald
AUSTIN The Ellison boys basketball
team used its postseason "mulligan" on Friday night.
Playing Austin Westlake in a scrimmage contest between two district
champions, the Eagles lost 68-53, much to the delight, surprisingly, of coach David Manley.
"This was just what we
needed," Manley said. "Hopefully our guys will learn from this and we'll continue to improve as a team."
Chris Montgomery
led the Eagles (24-7) with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Betiale Hawkins added 17 points and Chris Gallon chipped in 10.
Westlake
(25-7), winner of District 25-5A, was led by Dylan Pospisil with 18 points, including four 3-pointers. Dotun Obadina (15 points),
Matt Slatnick (12 points) and Zach Hawkins (10 points) also added offensive support.
"We just want to get through this
game and stay healthy," WHS coach Clifton McNeely said. "It's important to stay on schedule and not have 12 straight days
without a game."
Westlake opened the game with an 8-2 run before Hawkins scored seven of the Eagles' next nine points
to help get to within two of the Chaparrals. But thanks to three 3-point plays for Westlake, the hosts took an 18-13 lead
after the first eight minutes.
The lead was 22-13 for Westlake before Montgomery hit six straight points to cut the
deficit down to three.
But that's when the Chaparrals took over. They went on a 17-7 run to close out the first half
and led by 13.
"They (Westlake) really shot the ball well," Manley said. "One of the teams we could be facing, Vidor,
is a lot like that so this was great exposure for us."
Three of Westlake's seven 3-pointers came in the third quarter
as the Chaparrals extended their lead to 14 heading into the final eight minutes of action.
Playing
without Matthew Addison for the third straight game (deep thigh bruise), the Eagles found limited
offensive support from the parimeter and depended on their post play, which was strong.
"We still missed a bunch of
point-blank shots, so we need to improve on that," Manley said. "It's fun to be in the playoffs, but we need to get re-focused,
otherwise our golf season will start early."
The Eagles will play the winner of the Vidor-Livingston game in the area
round of the playoffs next weekend at a time and site to be announced.
February 27, 2004
Manley advises Ellison fans to 'get there early'
By Evan Ren
Killeen Daily Herald
For Ellison basketball coach David Manley,
tonight's 7:30 area-round game with Vidor presents a two-fold problem: Not only is Vidor (29-5, 13-3 District 20-4A) a solid
team with multiple threats, but the Vikings, who qualified for postseason play for the first time in school history, are likely
to bring more people than the Magnolia High School gym can hold.
"It's going to be a great game with a great playoff
atmosphere," Manley said. "They brought around 1,500 people when they beat Livingston on Tuesday, so any Ellison people who
want to go to the game had better get there early."
The Vikings will likely be troublesome on the floor as well.
Having
advanced to the area round with a 57-53 win over Livingston on Tuesday, Vidor features a balanced inside/outside game led
by 6-foot-7 senior forward Jake McWilliams (13.1 points, 8.6 rebounds).
"McWilliams is their best player," Manley said.
"He can bring the ball up the floor, he can post up and he can shoot the 3."
Other threats facing Ellison include the
guard trio of Trey Jenkins (11 ppg), Cody Rees (8) and George Williamson (6), along with forward Chris Hoffpauir (8).
Guards
Noah Cole (6 ppg) and Jeremy Williamson (5), along with postman Josh Travis (5) will also see significant action, though Vidor
coach Brian English has yet to settle on a starting lineup, or a rotation.
"We really haven't decided on who will start
because Ellison is a little bigger than we are underneath," English said. "They're an impressive team with good big men, good
guards and a lot of tradition."
And it is tradition, or in the case of Vidor, the lack thereof, which worries English
the most.
In their playoff debut against Livingston, the Vikings, who shoot an impressive 35 percent as a team from
3-point range, missed their first nine shots from beyond the arc and finished 5-of-20 on the night.
"We were definitely
nervous," English said. "There's a huge difference between playing in the regular season and playing when it's do-or-die."
Ellison,
on the other hand, which is entering the playoffs for the 10th straight season, is hoping an advantage in postseason experience
will work in its favor.
Yet, if one asks Manley, much of the pressure will actually be on the Eagles.
"No question,"
he said. "Vidor will shoot the ball better than they did against Livingston because once you get the first round over with,
the kids start to settle in.
"We've had a layoff and we haven't played a playoff game yet, so that worries us."
Taking
the floor for Ellison (24-8, 13-1 District 17-4A) will be guards Deontra Levi (9.0 ppg), Matthew
Addison (10.8), forward Tauren Miller (3.5) and 6-5 postmen Chris Montgomery (13.1, 5.4 rebounds) and
Chris Gallon (9.0, 4.0).
The Eagle starting lineup and rotation is also subject to change, with the guard play serving
as an area which Manley will watch very closely.
"They're going to sit back in a zone, so we'll have to hit some shots
from the outside," he said. "If you sit back in a zone against them, they'll outshoot you, and that's how they got to be 29-5.
"If
we're going to win, it's going to take the best defensive effort we've had all season."
February 28, 2004
A real pick-me-up: Addison, Levi lead Eagles in playoff win
By Evan Ren
Killeen Daily Herald
MAGNOLIA For the better part of three quarters
in Friday's area-round game with Ellison, an outplayed Vidor team found compensation from behind the 3-point line.
Once
the final frame began, however, the Pirates, who had canned nine treys in the first three periods, failed to connect again
and fell 60-46 at the Magnolia High School gym.
Matthew Addison scored a game-high
20 points and Chris Montgomery added 17 more to lead Ellison (25-8), which advances to face Rosenberg
Terry in the regional quarterfinals at a site and time to be determined.
Vidor finished at 29-6 with the loss.
"They
hit a lot of 3s but they weren't open 3s," Ellison coach David Manley said. "They hit a lot of shots that were contested."
The
Pirates, despite being outrebounded 27-20 and committing 14 turnovers to Ellison's seven, simply wouldn't go away.
Trailing
16-11 at the end of the first quarter, Vidor bombed the Eagles with four 3-pointers in the second to cut the gap to 27-24
at the break.
Cody Rees, who led the Pirates with 14 points, hit all three of his 3-pointers in the first half.
"I
was never comfortable," Manley said. "This was a great game and I didn't feel comfortable until the final horn."
Vidor,
which never led despite having six separate opportunities to do so, managed to keep it close in the third as well, as Chris
Hoffpauir, Trey Jenkins and Jake McWilliams all hit shots from beyond the arc.
But Ellison, after carrying a 39-35
advantage into the final stanza, finally began to take a toll on the Pirates with a rugged perimeter defense.
After
shooting a blistering 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) from 3-point range in the first three quarters, Vidor missed its final seven
3s down the stretch.
"You have to give Ellison credit," Vidor coach Brian English said. "They played great defense
and made it tough on us."
One defensive play in particular, a steal by Montgomery with 4:09 left in the game, proved
especially crucial.
With Ellison leading 41-38, Montgomery stripped Rees of the ball at midcourt, drawing an intentional
foul in the process.
Montgomery sank both free throws, and Ellison, which was granted possession after the foul, expanded
its lead to 45-38 when Chris Gallon hit a shot in the lane with 2:46 remaining.
The Eagles then spread the floor to
draw Vidor out of its zone defense, then buried the Pirates by hitting 13 of 15 free throws in the final two minutes eight of which came from Addison.
"Ellison hit their free throws down the stretch
which is what good teams do," English said. "They did what they had to do to win the game."
Other contributors for
Ellison were Deontra Levi with 15 points and Gallon with four.
McWilliams scored nine in the losing effort for Vidor;
Jenkins added eight.
March 3, 2004
580-pound Terry duo poses huge problem for EHS
By Evan Ren
Killeen Daily Herald
The notion that the Ellison basketball team
is facing a large task in tonight's Region III quarterfinal matchup with Rosenberg Terry has a literal connotation.
In
fact, huge may be the better adjective, with Terry featuring a frontline of 6-foot-9, 340-pound Dexter Pittman and 6-5, 240-pound
Chester Moore.
Slated for 8 p.m. at Bryan High School, tonight's contest represents the seventh time in coach David
Manley's 10-year career that Ellison (25-8) has reached the final 32. For Terry (19-12), which notched its first-ever playoff
wins last week 63-50 over Marble Falls and 62-59 over Huntsville this is uncharted territory.
"Every time we take the
floor we make history," Terry coach Bennett Hatton said. "This school has never been this far before."
Carried largely
by the inside presence of Moore (17.0 points, 13.1 rebounds) and Pittman (5.0, 6.0), the Rangers, who finished second to Brenham
in District 18-4A, have an effective transition game as well.
Led by 5-8 guards Brandon Humphrey (11.0, 5.0 assists)
and Shawn Walton (8.5, 4.0 assists), along with 6-2 wingman Torance Thomas (12.0, 7.2 rebounds), the Rangers like to apply
pressure defensively, then pound the ball inside in a half-court set.
"We've got to take care of the basketball against
their pressure and we have to keep them in front of us defensively," said Manley, who guided the Eagles to the 5A Sweet 16
in 2002 and the 4A Region III final in 2003. "We can't afford to be giving their big people layups all night."
Charged
with the task of handling the Rangers inside will be 6-6 senior postman Chris Montgomery (13.1, 5.4 rebounds) and 6-4 senior
forward Chris Gallon (9.2, 4.1).
Deontra Levi (9.3) and Matthew Addison (10.8) are the
likely starters at guard, with Tauren Miller (3.5) at the three spot.
Addison,
Montgomery and Levi are of particular interest to Hatton, after his scouts watched the trio score 20, 17 and 15 points respectively
in Ellison's 60-46 area-round win over Vidor on Friday.
"They've got some nice post people and their guards can shoot
the 3," he said. "They're not as good as they were last year, thank God, but they've still got a lot of good players.''
When
asked about what his approach to tonight's game would be, Hatton remained candid.
The Rangers, who were eliminated
75-58 by Shoemaker in the opening round of the playoffs a year ago, will give the smaller Eagles a steady diet of Moore and
Pittman inside.
Pittman, a sophomore with a size-20 shoe, is the son of former Oklahoma State center Johnny Pittman,
a 7-footer who starred with the Cowboys in the late 1980s.
"He's huge," said Hatton of Pittman, who turns 16 today.
"The basketball looks like a grapefruit in his hands."
Looking beyond the Ellison/Terry matchup, the winner will move
on to the Region III semifinals to face the winner of Houston Smiley and Houston Wheatley in Beaumont's Montagne Center.
Located
on the campus of Lamar University, the Montagne Center was where Ellison's playoff road came to an end a year ago with a 54-45
loss to Beaumont Ozen in the Elite Eight the second straight year the Eagles were eliminated by the eventual state runner-up.
In 2002, the Eagles fell to Dallas Kimball in the 5A Region II semifinals.
"Terry's got a lot of size and a lot of
athleticism,'' said Manley, who with a win would take Ellison to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in his tenure. "Of course,
if they didn't have a great team, they wouldn't still be playing, so it's going to be difficult."
Herald/STACEY COOPER
Rosenberg Terry 6-foot-9-inch post Dexter Pittman
blocks the shot of Ellison's Matthew Addison, but the Rangers
couldn't block Ellison from returning to the Region III tournament. The Eagles won 49-38 on Tuesday.
Back to Beaumont: Eagles beat Terry, advance to Region III tourney
By Evan Ren
Killeen Daily Herald
BRYAN "GBTB."
Until shortly after
Ellison's 48-39 regional quarterfinal win over Rosenberg Terry on Tuesday, "GBTB" was a secret motto among the Eagle coaching
staff and players.
Its meaning: "Get back to Beaumont."
And with Ellison's workmanlike elimination of the Rangers,
that mission has been accomplished. The Eagles will now advance to the Region III semifinals, where they will meet Houston
Wheatley at 8 p.m. in Lamar University's Montagne Center.
Matthew Addison scored
15 points while Chris Montgomery, Deontra Levi, Chris Gallon and Shamarri Miller scored eight each
to lead Ellison (26-8), which will now return to the site where its season came to an end a year ago.
With the loss,
Terry closed the books on its deepest trip into the postseason bracket, ending the season with a 19-13 record.
"We've
been whispering 'GBTB' to the kids all season long," said Ellison coach David Manley, whose Eagles fell to eventual state
runner-up Beaumont Ozen in the Region III final a year ago. "We haven't told anyone about it, but now that we're going back,
everyone can know."
Early on at Bryan High School, it began to look as though a return visit to Beaumont for Ellison
may not happen.
Hampered with four of its starters in foul trouble while being outrebounded 14-7 in the first half,
the Eagles managed to tie the score at 23 just prior to the break when Jayme Price sank a free throw with five seconds remaining.
"We
told the kids at the half that to have four starters in foul trouble and still have the game tied was a good thing," Manley
said. "We thought it meant we were in pretty good shape."
Yet even with the return of its starting lineup in the third
quarter, the Eagles struggled from the floor, hitting only four of 12 shots in the frame.
Terry in the meantime, bolstered
by a pair of layups from Chester Moore and a jumper in the lane by Torrance Thomas, managed to keep it close, trailing the
Eagles 31-29 heading into the final stanza.
Then it happened: a virtual repeat of Ellison's area-round win over Vidor
on Tuesday night.
Leading 37-31 following a putback by Chris Montgomery with 3:02 to play, Ellison went into a semi-stall
to force the Rangers to foul.
Terry did exactly that and the Eagles made them pay hitting 10 of 12 free throws over
the final 1:57 to ice the game. Levi hit five of the charity tosses, as did Price.
"Free throws were very big tonight,"
said Terry coach Bennett Hatton, whose team hit only six of 17 shots from the line. "But that's been our history this year
... that and turnovers."
Turnovers were indeed, another factor as Ellison choked the passing lanes to force the Rangers
into 18 of them.
Terry, behind an enormous frontline of 6-foot-9, 340-pound Dexter Pittman and the 6-5, 240-pound Moore,
had the edge on the glass as expected, winning that battle 31-20. Yet Ellison, which collected 11 steals on the night, found
adequate compensation with quickness alone.
"We had to create more possessions because of their rebounding," Manley
said. "So we had to get some turnovers, and fortunately we did."
Leading the Rangers was Moore with 13 points and six
rebounds. Brandon Humphrey finished with eight.
"I think Ellison's got a fair chance in Beaumont," Hatton said. "They've
got a good team with a lot of quickness so they've got a shot."
March 5, 2004
Wheatley hoping to run past Ellison
By Evan Ren
Killeen Daily Herald
Houston Wheatley boys basketball coach Robert
Hughes may wish to moonlight as a psychologist.
At least it would seem he is playing that role heading into tonight's
Region III semifinal game with No. 13 Ellison in Beaumont.
If one listens to Hughes, whose Wildcats (23-10) advanced
with a 92-76 whipping of Houston Smiley on Tuesday, tonight's game at Lamar University's Montagne Center may as well be skipped.
"We
really don't want to play, and don't want to go, because we don't think we have a chance," said Hughes, noticeably restraining
laughter. "We'll show up because we don't want our district to be put on probation.
"Just tell Ellison to take it easy
on us."
Apparently stealing a page directly from (Ellison coach) David Manley's handbook of psych jobs, Hughes continued
to undersell his Wildcats as a team which is fortunate to still be alive.
Asked what his impressions of the Eagles
were, his response was largely tongue-in-cheek.
"I don't know anything about Ellison," Hughes said. "I didn't even
scout them because I didn't think we would get this far.
"But I do know from their history that they will have great
athletes, great quickness and that they will come to play."
According to the numbers, however, Wheatley will come to
play as well, and at a tempo very few teams can muster.
The Wildcats, who finished second to Houston Jones in District
21-4A, scored more than 80 points in 21 games this season, broke the 90-point barrier on 10 occasions, and topped the century
mark five times.
Primary weapons for Wheatley include 6-foot-5 postmen Catrail Smith (18 points, 12.1 rebounds) and
Sean Taylor (15.0, 10.1), along with a starting guard trio of Dewayne Reed (14.4, 7.4 assists), Harold Johnson (8.3 ppg, 4.2
steals) and Willie Anders (6.0 ppg, 4.1 steals).
The Wildcats commonly use 10-11 players per game, and according to
Manley, who chuckled at Hughes' sandbagging tactic, they run at every opportunity.
"We know that once the ball goes
up, their kids will play hard and so will ours," Manley said. "Once you reach this point of the season, it's win or go home,
so both sides are going to compete."
To counter what Manley calls "the quickest and best dribble-penetration team we've
faced this year," the Eagles (26-8) will go with a pint-sized guard trio of 5-4 Jayme Price (5.9), 5-8 Deontra Levi (9.8)
and 5-8 Matthew Addison (10.8).
Chris Montgomery (13.2
points, 5.4 rebounds) and Chris Gallon (8.8 ppg, 4.2 rebounds) will start for Ellison in the paint.
"Tempo, tempo,
tempo ... that's going to be the key," Manley said. "The team that can dictate tempo is going to win this game."
On
that subject, Hughes was less rhetorical admitting that his team has no intention of getting trapped in the half-court, physical
game Ellison favors.
Keep in mind, that was "less rhetorical," not "non-rhetorical."
"If we don't run, we don't
win," said Hughes, whose team was 3-7 when it scored less than 80 points this season. "We've got to get out and run if we're
going to have any hope against a team like Ellison."
Slated for 8 p.m., tonight's contest represents the third straight
Sweet 16 appearance for the Eagles, and the fourth in Manley's decade-long tenure at Ellison.
It also marks a return
to the Montagne Center, where Ellison fell to eventual state runner-up Beaumont Ozen 54-45 in the Elite Eight last year.
Ozen
has returned to the Region III semifinals as well, and will face the Ellison/Wheatley winner at noon Saturday if it can defeat
Houston Jones in the 6 p.m. game.
"It just keeps getting tougher the farther you go," Manley said. "No matter who wins,
it's going to be a great game on Saturday."
March 6, 2004
Wheatley ends short-handed Ellison's season
By Evan Ren
Killeen Daily Herald
BEAUMONT Facing a team in Houston Wheatley
which routinely goes 10 men deep, an already short-handed Ellison basketball team had little margin for error heading into
Friday's Region III final.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, who were already missing part-time starter Taurren Miller
to an ankle sprain, the loss of starting point guard Jayme Price to a first-quarter knee injury was too big a handicap to
overcome in a 66-62 loss in Lamar University's Montagne Center.
DeWayne Reed scored 15 points while Willie Anders
and Sean Taylor added 11 and 10, respectively, to lead Wheatley (24-11) which advances to face Houston Jones in today's Region
III final.
For Ellison, the loss ended its bid to reach the Texas Elite Eight for a second straight year, and closed
the season with a 26-9 record.
"We just didn't handle the ball well enough tonight," said Ellison coach David Manley,
whose team committed an uncharacteristic 19 turnovers. "Missing two ball handlers really hurt us."
Just how much it
was going hurt became apparent in the second quarter, when Wheatley, taking advantage of Price's absence, forced six turnovers
in an eight-minute span to take a 30-23 lead into the break.
Ellison briefly adjusted in the third, however, climbing
back into the game with 12 points in the paint and an early 3-pointer from Matthew Addison to cut the gap to 43-40 heading
into the final frame.
"You've got to hand it to Ellison," Wheatley coach Robert Hughes said. "To lose a true point
guard like that and still stay in the game the way they did was really something."
Retaining the momentum early in
the fourth, the Eagles took what would be their final lead of the evening with 6:25 left when
Addison canned a pair of free throws for a 47-46 edge.
But from that moment on, Price's absence
became a critical factor once again, with Ellison committing five turnovers down the stretch.
Two of those miscues
back-to-back steals by Reed with under two minutes to play were particularly deadly for the Eagles. The takeaways led to consecutive
layups, one of them by Reed and the other by Harold Johnson, to give the Wildcats a 62-58 lead with 42 seconds to play.
Ellison
never recovered, and when Addison overthrew Shamarri Miller on
a fast-break opportunity with 22 seconds left, the Eagles' fate was sealed.
"We had the game at the tempo we wanted,"
said Manley after coaching in his third consecutive Sweet 16 appearance with Ellison. "We just missed a few easy baskets and
didn't take care of the ball when we had to.
"But I tell you, I'm excited about the season we had."
Leading
scorers for the Eagles were Chris Montgomery with 19 points, Deontra Levi with 16 and Addison
with 11.
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