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E-mail This StoryAt the start of the 2007-08 season, Plano West head coach Anthony Morgan said he saw a distinct possibility that West and Plano East could play five times (twice in tournaments, twice in district and once in the playoffs).
Only one of the tournament match-ups materialized, the finals of the Garland ISD Coca-Cola event and a potential playoff match-up remains to be seen, but Round 3 between the Wolves and Panthers could very well decide which one of the teams enters the postseason as District 9-5A’s top seed.
And it isn’t just a big game in Plano as the match-up has been selected as the KTXA 21 High School Edge Game of the Week. Cameras and announcers from the station will be in attendance to broadcast the game, which will be shown at 11 a.m. Saturday.
“They seem to think it’s a game of interest,” said Doug Bleadorn, East head coach.
Bleadorn’s attempt to downplay the significance aside, the Panthers can move into a tie for first place in the district if they are able to defeat the Wolves for a third time this season.
That won’t be easy though as since the team’s last meeting, Dec. 21, West has gone 8-2 and won six straight on its way to ascending to No. 4 in the latest Texas Association of Basketball Coaches state poll.
East, however, comes into the game on a roll of its own, having won four straight after the Panthers fought through their first losing streak of the season. And though both coaches cautioned their respective teams to take things one game at a time, East senior Quincy Diggs couldn’t help but look a bit ahead after last Friday’s victory over Allen.
“We are playing really good basketball right now,” he said. “And we’re ready for West.”
In addition to scoring the most combined points for either team in the series this season, 39, Diggs is one seven East seniors (along with Anthony Hill, Dominique Rogers, Kevin Smith, Mike Uwaga, Armani Blackmon and John West) that have given the Panthers a seasoned lineup all year.
West and Hill are second and third in points scored in the East-West series this season with 34 and 25, respectively. Smith could add a new wrinkle to the game as he has not seen the floor in the previous two encounters. But Bleadorn isn’t expecting a lot of new wrinkles for the third go round.
“We expect a tough game just like every time we step onto the court with West,” he said. “West knows what we do and we know what West does, so there probably won’t be a lot of surprises.”
West has their own key component that hasn’t participated in the series as well in Bakari Turner. The emerging sophomore has averaged 11.6 points in five games this season and has led the Wolves in scoring in three of those games since completing the 365-day sit-out period for transfers.
But Turner is just one of a number of underclassmen that have made an impact for the Wolves this season. Sophomore Jackson Jeffcoat is leading the team, and sixth in the Metroplex, with 9.4 rebounds per game. Junior Mike Groselle leads West with 11.6 points per game this season, and is one of a quintet of juniors that have made an impact on the team (along with Tyler Melville, Jimmie Jones, Travis Wilson and Mark Damiani).
Those five players are part of a West rotation that routinely goes 12 deep. And because of that, East has paced itself for tonight’s game.
“We wanted to have a couple good days of practice,” Bleadorn said. “But you don’t want to work the guys so hard that they have nothing left for the game.”
West held double-digit leads in both previous encounters, including a 20-point advantage at the Garland tourney, before East pulled out a tight win. The two games have been decided by a total of six points, 67-63 at the tournament and 56-54 in district, which means the Panthers’ gym should be rocking tonight.
“We always have good, boisterous fans,” Bleadorn said. “And we appreciate that fan support, especially in a game like this.”
