After a long, grueling two-month pre-season slate, the Atascocita Eagles boys basketball team wound up their pre-district slate in a familiar setting.
That setting was Kingwood High School for the Insperity Holiday Classic where, although they didn’t take home the title, the Eagles were very competitive in the tournament.
In the first game Dec. 27, the Eagles faced off against the Eastern Hills Highlanders. In a game that featured long, extended runs, the Eagles broke out of the gate with a 20-6 lead, saw the lead dwindle to two points early in the second half, then pulled away again for a 61-52 victory.
In the second game of the day for the Eagles, they faced off against the Panthers of Cy-Springs. This one was a decisive win from the start as the Eagles broke out of the gate 9-0, led 34-15 at halftime, and eventually won 70-48 to advance to the semifinals.
In that game, Eagles standout center Fabian White scored 31 points, 21 of which came in the second half of play.
Dec. 28 saw two close games and two tough defeats for the Eagles. The first came against the Yates Lions. The Eagles, as they did in the previous two games, raced out to a quick lead, this time 25-16 after one quarter.
Yates however came back to take the lead 38-37 at half which set the stage for a tight, close second half.
In the end, Jock Hughes led the Lions with 24 points, and Kobe Wilson missed a game-winning three at the horn and Yates beat the Eagles, 75-73.
The second game saw similar heartbreak; it was the third-place game against Lamar and like the matchup with Yates, it came down to the final moments.
This time, White missed the back half of two free throws in the closing moments and Lamar hung on for a 68-67 win.
Since then, the Eagles have started district play with three consecutive wins, against North Shore, Summer Creek and Baytown Sterling to open District 21-6A play.
