On Tuesday, November 29th, The Willis Wildkats traveled to New Caney to take on the Eagles in the first 13-6A district matchup of the season. The Eagles came into the night with a 2-7 record on the season while the Willis Wildcats were 6-3.
The Eagles jumped out to a commanding 10-0 lead in the first quarter with great play by their seniors, guard Dylan Dempsey and forward Kendall Dove. The Wildkats were able to get back on track and take the lead 32-29 at the half. The second half both teams took turns exchanging baskets and the lead until the final buzzer. As the clock began to wind down, New Caney Eagles guard Dravon Wilson drove to the basket making the layup and getting fouled to tie the game at 42. Wilson would make the subsequent free throw giving New Caney a 43-42 lead with 8 seconds to go in the game. The Wildkats would take a timeout and advance the ball. During the inbounds pass to WildKats freshman SJ Young, he was fouled and went to the line for 2 free throws. Young made both free throws putting the Wildkats back on top 44-43 with 5.8 seconds to go in the game. New Caney, who was out of timeouts, had to go the length of the court for the final shot by Dylen Dempsey at the buzzer which was just off the mark giving the Wildcats the win 44-43 in a wire to wire district game.
We were able to catch up with the Wildkats Head Coach Jeremy Clark postgame about his teams performance. “Tonight was an extremely fun and competitive basketball game. I tip my hat to Coach Farmer and the New Caney squad, they came in prepared and played very hard. It’s really hard to win games on the road in this district and I let my team know as we prepared for New Caney on Monday” Clark Said. “Our program hangs our hat on the defensive end. I always tell them defense and rebounding travels. Our guys have bought into that and we were able to keep the game close and give ourselves a chance at the end of the game.”
The Wilkats were led by ’25 Tyshon Nixon with 18 points, 6 steals and ’26 SJ Young posting his 6th double double of the season with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
The Eagles were led by ’24 Dravon Wilson with 14 points and ’23 Kendall Dove adding another 7.
We were able to speak with Dravon Wilson postgame about his adjustments just coming in from football and trying to get prepared for district so quickly.
The New Caney Eagles will be playing in the Katy Tournament over the next weekend as Willis will be attending the Lamar Consolidated tournament. Good luck to both teams.
