The Grapevine boys basketball team improved to 4-3 in district competition on Friday night with 54-51 victory over Iriving MacArthur, and coach Kevin Starnes said a strong fourth-quarter effort is what put the Mustangs over the top.
Grapevine will square off with Colleyville Heritage on Friday for the second time this season, and Starnes said his team will have its hands full."They're tough," Starnes said. "They do such a good job with what they do, and their coaches do an awesome job preparing them. We are going to have to do a good job of playing consistently."We are going to have to do a good job of taking care of the basketball, we're going to have to win the rebounding margin. Those little things that you make you either win or lose basketball games, we're going to have to improve one."Starnes said the game against MacArthur on Friday night was a bit of a mixed bag, but ultimately a very good win for his team."We didn't play exceptionally great to start out, but we remained close," Starnes said. "Then we went on a huge run. I think it was 14-2 run to start the fourth quarter, and from that point on, our kids were playing with a lot of confidence and momentum even though we were on the road."We took the lead and held on and beat them at their place, which was big for us."Alex Greisin led the team in scoring with 16 points, while Kaleb Castro added 11 points in the game.Adam Sandy, Will Dupuy, Bryce Batchelor, Tanner Scovic, Keaun Simmons, and Kirby Simon combined for 27 points in the game.At 4-3 through the first half of district play, Starnes said he is feeling pretty satisfied with where his team is positioned heading into the second half."We opened up 0-2 in the first round," Starnes said. "I feel like we are playing with more momentum and a better understanding of who we are both individually and collectively. I told our guys, 'We lost by five points in our first game against Bell, so you're essentially talking about one or two possessions needing to go our way, and we win the game.'"I'm trying to get them to understand that these are not huge blowouts, but rather one or two mental mistakes or lapses that can eventually cost you the game. The focus right now is just cleaning it up and limiting our mistakes every game to give ourselves the best possible chance of winning."Grapevine has won or lost every district game besides one this season by five points or less.Starnes said that makes him feel optimistic about his teams chances in the second half of district."We knew the district race would be very close this year," Starnes said. "There are a lot of teams that are similar in talent and ability, so every night, you're going to have to play."That's been true for us this first round, but I feel like we've played in quite a few close games all year and been successful, and our kids our used to it. I feel comfortable as a coach telling them what they need to do and having them execute it for us."Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
