Thanks to a pair of victories this week in Tiger Fieldhouse, the Houston High School boys basketball team has won 3 consecutive games.
The Tigers got the first W by downing Ava 55-46 in a South Central Association contest on Tuesday and made it two in a row by outlasting Dora for a 53-50 win in overtime in a nonconference matchup on Thursday. Houston began the 3-game winning streak by downing Lesterville last Saturday at the annual Bunker Shootout.
BIG FOURTH QUARTER
The Tigers got off to a good start against Ava, leading 18-8 at the end of the first quarter. Houston was up by the same margin at halftime, 33-23, but the visiting Bears came back in the third period and were ahead 41-39 going into the final 8 minutes.
The Tigers then regained the momentum and dominated the fourth quarter to secure the win.
Senior forward Brady Brookshire led Houston in scoring with 19 points, while junior guard Jordan Arthur had 17 points and team-highs of 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Sophomore guard DJ Riley scored 13 points for the Tigers, while also dishing out 5 assists.
Junior forward Isaac Dalton led Ava’s offense, going 9-for-10 from the free throw line and finishing with 19 points, while also nabbing a game-high 8 rebounds and recording 3 assists.
The Bears’ offense in the contest centered around long-range shooting, as they took 27 shots from 3-point range, but sank only 7. Meanwhile, the Tigers went only 3-for-12 from behind the arc, but committed a season-low 5 turnovers.
OT SUCCESS
After Houston and Dora took exchanged the momentum and took turns going on scoring runs throughout regulation time, the Tigers held off the visiting Falcons in overtime.
Houston struggled at the free throw line during the extra session, going 5-for-14 and missing 7 straight at one point.
But the Tigers’ defense made it difficult for Dora players to find space to shoot and turned in several big plays down the stretch to help preserve the squad’s second consecutive victory.
The job had to be done without the services of Arthur, who fouled out late in the fourth quarter.
With the score at 52-50 in favor of Houston with 5 seconds left, the Falcons turned the ball over on a traveling call, essentially dashing their hopes.
The Tigers went 15-for-31 from the foul line in the game, while Dora went 8-for-16 from the stripe.
Arthur led Houston in scoring in the contest with 15 points, while Riley hit 2 treys and had 13. Junior center Brody Adkison had a huge game, banging and bashing his way to a career-high 11 points while pulling down a game-high 9 rebounds and making multiple key plays on the defensive end.
Dora was led in scoring by senior Ashton Roberts with 13 points, while senior Brayden York sank 2 triples and had 12.
The Tigers (6-17, 1-5 SCA) are scheduled to host an SCA battle with Willow Springs tonight (Friday).