After a scintillating 14-0 beginning to their District 21-5A season, the Humble Wildcats tasted defeat for the first time in district play in one of the biggest district games of the season.
In their 14-0 start, they’d won the first 13 games by double digits, with their only close win coming last Tuesday night at Barbers Hill.
But Friday night, they came up against a red-hot Porter team that Humble beat earlier this season. The big difference: Porter didn’t have Deion or Sean Rhea that night, two highly regarded transfers who were sitting out.
And Friday night, they combined for 39 points and scored nine of Porter’s last 11 in a quarter where Porter outscored the Wildcats 15-3 for a 54-48 road win.
After a tightly contested first half, it looked like the Wildcats might bury the Spartans in the third quarter as the Wildcats hit five threes; they got two from Kevin Dawson and three from Jaylon Alsanders. They led by as much as eight in the third and led after three, 45-39.
But in the fourth quarter, the Spartans leaned on the Rhea twins, who not only put points on the board but helped make life very difficult for Humble, especially inside. The only basket the Wildcats scored in the fourth quarter was a three-pointer.
Meanwhile, the Atascocita Eagles continued their undefeated district run, notching four more wins the last two weeks that all came by at least 27 points.
These wins included a 41-point blowout of North Shore, a 32-point win at Summer Creek, another 32-point win last Tuesday against Baytown Sterling where they outscored the Rangers 29-9 in the fourth quarter, and a 27-point win last Friday at C.E. King. The Eagles are now 11-0 in District 21-6A play and 20-8 overall.
This week, the Eagles host Goose Creek Memorial then travel to Kingwood, while the Wildcats travel to both Crosby and Kingwood Park.