Ricebirds take first at tourney

The Ricebirds finished the Leroy Miksch Memorial Tournament with a win over tournament host Needville Saturday.

El Campo's varsity boys basketball team moved to 3-1 on the season after a 70-56 win.

Needville came out to a great start and the Blue Jays took the lead over El Campo early in the game. The Ricebirds trailed 35- 34 at halftime.

"It was a tough game," Philip Spenrath, head coach of the Ricebirds, said. "We got behind early and we trailed all the way through the third quarter."

Spenrath credited the slow start to being early in the season. Several of El Campo's players recently joined the team at the end of football season. It usually takes a while to transition from football shape to basketball shape.

"We made a lot of turnovers and what I would call early-season mistakes in forcing some passes that probably weren't there," Spenrath said. "The kids played hard, they always play hard.

"We came out and pressed a lot, then we kind of backed off. We changed the defense and adjusted at the half and played a little zone. I think that kind of threw them off."

Halftime adjustments and 11 points from Travis Pflughaupt helped the Ricebirds to a 54-46 lead after the third quarter.

El Campo held off Needville after taking the lead to outscore the Blue Jays 16-10 in the fourth quarter and finish with a 70-56 final score.

Pflughaupt led the 'Birds with 32 points while Jac Axel scored 16, Anthony Terrell scored 7, Landon Appling and Larry Williams both scored 6 and Sebastian Brown scored 3 points.

The Ricebirds will compete in the Sealy Tournament Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Their first game is scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday against Bellville.

After that tournament is complete, the 'Birds will travel to Stafford Dec. 11 and Angleton Dec. 14.