(Seguin) — Needing a win to stay within striking distance of the 4th and final playoff spot in District 26-5A, the Seguin Matadors took care of business in trouncing the Canyon Cougars 84-63 on the basketball court at Goldie Harris Gym on Friday night.
The Mats improve to 5-6 in the district with the victory and remain one and a half games back of 4th place Kerrville Tivy in the district standings. The Antlers were also victorious on Friday night as they beat Pieper 73-41 in Kerrville to improve their district record to 6-4.
Seguin’s smothering defense limited the Cougars to just 17 points in the first half and the Matador offense caught fire scoring 26 points in the 2nd quarter to take a 45-17 lead into the break at the half. Three Matadors scored in double figures in the 1st half as Kevon Williams had 11 points, Jakyari Matthews had 10 points and John Jackson lead the way with 15 points through the game’s first 16 minutes.
“For the majority of the year, we’ve been able to put points on the board. It comes down to defense.” Seguin head coach Guy Nowlin said after the game. “We played really great defense in the first half. We only turned the ball over four times in the 1st half. That was able to give us the lead there and a nice little cushion to play with in the 2nd half.”
The Cougars came out firing in the 2nd half as they knocked down eight three point shots in the 3rd and 4th quarters, but it was not enough to overcome Seguin’s strong first half performance. Keelan Harris had four of Canyon’s three pointers as he finished with 12 points for the game, all in the 2nd half.
Seguin’s Devin Matthews kept pace with Harris as he dropped in nine points in the 3rd quarter to finish the game with 17 points. Jackson lead the Matadors with 24 points, while Williams had 15 and Jakyari Matthews finished with 13.
Seguin will hit the road Tuesday to play the 2nd place team in the district, Boerne Champion. The Mats play at last place Pieper next Friday and finish the season with 6th place Smithson Valley at home on February 14th.
Kerrville Tivy will play at 3rd place San Antonio Wagner on Saturday in a makeup game. They will travel to 1st place Veterans Memorial on Tuesday. Then the Antlers play at Smithson Valley next Friday before closing out the season at home against Canyon on Valentine’s Day.
Should the Antlers and Matadors finish tied for 4th place in the district, a one-gam tiebreaker will be played between the teams to determine who goes to the playoffs. Seguin and Tivy split their two games against each other this season.