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Boys basketball: The Bell tolls for East: Brett's big game leads to FM victory
By Kevin Hageland, khageland@acnpapers.com
PLANO -- With 2.2 seconds remaining in Friday night's game against Plano East (0-3 in district), Flower Mound's Brett Bell sank two free throws to secure the overtime win.
But that was far from the most dramatic moment of the night for Bell, who needed to hit a 3-pointer at the end of regulation just to force overtime in an eventual 65-60 Flower Mound (1-2) victory.
"I was shooting well during drills in warm-ups," said Bell, who had a game-high 27 points and 21 rebounds. "Some people might think I can't shoot because I'm a big man, but I've been playing guard most of my life."
"We needed one break, one break to get us over the hump," said Henry Thomas, Flower Mound head coach. "After that shot went in, I felt good going to overtime."
And he had reason to as that shot completed a sizable Flower Mound comeback.
East stormed out to a 22-6 lead early in the second quarter with sophomore Bola Alade and junior Marcus Mathieu, who each had 13 points, leading the way. Alade and Mathieu were also solid on the boards with eight and six rebounds, respectively.
Flower Mound's only first-quarter field goals came from Justin Gamill, who had 15 points and seven rebounds on the night.
"Flower Mound made some shots in the second half," said Doug Bleadorn, East head coach, "but I think we might have eased up on them a bit after we got ahead and we can't afford to do that."
Thomas concurred.
"I think once it got to 22-6, [East] started getting a little too comfortable," he said.
That comfort level remained in the third quarter, where East held a 32-21 lead. The first basket of the second half came on an alley-oop from Mathieu to Panthers junior Xavier Smith, who also had nine boards.
The momentum changed quickly thereafter as Panthers junior Sawyer Kipp got a technical foul.
"Technicals in close games like that can really turn the momentum," Bleadorn said.
Kipp's did as the junior fouled out in the fourth quarter and his technical in the third sparked a 10-0 Flower Mound run. Bell, Gamill and Taylor Johnson, who scored 19, accounted for the entirety of that run and the majority of Flower Mound's offense as they scored 61 of the team's 65 points. Jared Stoweres and Stoffel Strange had the other four.
"That three-headed monster really got us tonight," Bleadorn said. "And Bell ... he just dominated."
Flower Mound's third-quarter spurt made it 32-31, a deficit it would replicate multiple times before Bell gave the Jaguars their first lead at 50-49 with 2:09 remaining in regulation. East fired back with buckets from Alade and junior Jarvis Pugh, who had 11 points, to regain a 53-50 advantage.
The Panthers were still ahead by three points, 55-52, before Bell's game-tying trifecta.
"We were getting good shots in the first half, we just weren't finishing," Bell said. "We started executing more in the second half and I was glad I could help carry the team when they needed me."
East was by no means out of it though.
In fact, the Panthers held the lead in the early stages of overtime before Johnson buried a 3-pointer to make it 60-58 with 2:21 to go.
"[Johnson] really came alive in the second half," Bleadorn said.
East tied the game once more with a put-back from Mathieu with 1:17 left, but Flower Mound scored the final five points with free throws from Bell and a bucket by Johnson to seal the 65-60 victory.
In a 36-minute game, Flower Mound led for 2:34.
"This was a very tough loss," Bleadorn said. "There were some second chances they got that we probably shouldn't have given up, but Flower Mound also made the plays they needed to win and we needed to execute better at the end of the game, both offensively and defensively."
Panthers juniors David Havala and Chico Morales scored six and five points, respectively, in the defeat.
East is back on the court at 7:30 p.m. Monday when it welcomes Plano Senior while Flower Mound hosts Plano West at the same time.
"I hope this shows our kids that they can win," Thomas said. "I know this is a tough district, but I've told them all season they are not the eighth team in this district and I hope they start to believe that after tonight."
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