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Ricebirds smother Spartans with defense
"They had a sense of urgency and they started playing a lot better," Philip Spenrath, head coach of the Ricebirds, said. "I thought our defense was very, very good tonight. I thought our offense struggled some. We started running some offense early in the game, but we were never clicking. It was more of a defensive game." El Campo's post, Travis Pflughaupt agreed that it was the Ricebird defense that earned this win. "Our defense played great, probably the best we've played all year," Pflughaupt said. "Our offensive game wasn't that great. We weren't making all our shots, but we kept hustling, getting on the boards and getting some second chances. Our defense really won the game for us."
With the Spartans down 33-31, Pflughaupt was sent to the free-throw line to shoot with 21.19 seconds left in the game. He missed and the Spartans fans went crazy. Until that moment, Pflughaupt was perfect from the line with six free throws on the night. Stafford could not connect on a fast break following the shot or on the rebound after and Pflughaupt came away with the ball. He was immediately fouled with 7.45 seconds left. In front of a roaring home crowd, Pflughaupt connected for two free throws to put El Campo ahead 35-31. Stafford followed with a basket to cut the score to 35-33 with 1.76 left and fouled Pflughaupt once again to have any hope for a win. Pflughaupt went to the line and with the Spartan fans heckling him, made two more free throws to silence the crowd and give the game its final score of 37-33. "I went up there for the first one, I went and missed it," Pflughaupt said. "It was good to get some redemption and make the last four. I really liked doing it. It was enjoyable." Pflughaupt, who said he loves pressure, recalled a game earlier in the Sealy Tournament Friday when he was not as fortunate. "I had a little bit of pressure on me against Weimar," he said. "With a tenth of a second on the clock, I had a free throw to win the game and I missed it. It was good to come back and win this game, but it wasn't just me. It was the whole team, definitely." In Pflughaupt's absence earlier in the fourth quarter, the entire team scrambled on defense to prevent a Spartan comeback. With El Campo's big man on the bench, Stafford gave up on the outside shot and looked inside instead. The Ricebird defense held of the Spartans just enough without Pflughaupt. "Travis came out for a while and (Stafford) started attacking the basket," Spenrath said. "They had a little success there, so they started doing that more. They probable should have done that from the beginning." The Spartans went on a 9- 2 run to start the fourth quarter and cut El Campo's lead to 31- 29 with just over three minutes left in the game. A quick defense worked hard to trap the Ricebirds as they crossed the court. Anthony Terrell and Maverick Smith routinely worked the ball up-court only to have only to have the Spartan defense collapse on them and force tough passes. As the clock ticked to just under three minutes, El Campo's guards found Jac Axel under the goal for a nice layup. Axel's basket pushed the score to 33- 29. Stafford charged down the court, but El Campo came up with the ball a few seconds later on a missed shot. The Spartans held El Campo and made good on a fast break with 2:05 left in the game to cut the Ricebirds' lead to 33-31. That was when El Campo's defense stepped up and held Stafford scoreless before Pflughaupt took to the free-throw line to end the game. "We try to play hard the whole four quarters and we're trying to find a way to win," Spenrath said. "We did that over the tournament this past weekend and in this game. All of our games were pretty close. "As long as you can win, I know the level of competition is going to get a lot better when we get closer to (district), but as long as they play hard and they find a way to win, then we can always grow with that." RICEBIRD STATS El Campo 37, Stafford 33
EC Leaders POINTS - Travis Pflughaupt 18, Anthony Terrell 6, Jac Axel 4, Ira Smith 4, Larry Williams 2 |
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