Trophy Club Nelson dominates Fort Worth Poly despite lukewarm shooting night

By Gary T. Skrehart

Special to the Star-Telegram

Trophy Club Nelson’s Emmanuel Nzekwesi controlled the inside all night to deliver a convincing 59-33 win over Fort Worth Polytechnic in a boys Class 4A bi-district basketball game at the Keller Central Gym.

The Bobcats led from start to finish despite a less than stellar 28 percent shooting night. They got a great deal of help from Nzekwesi, who finished with a game-high 22 points.

Poly had even a tougher shooting night at 23 percent and only gave Nelson some concern in the second quarter.

Nelson (27-5) moves on to the area round Saturday against the winner of Tuesday’s Granbury-Waco University matchup. Poly ends its season at 18-14.

Poly spotted Nelson a 13-0 lead in the first quarter and did not score until just under three minutes remained in the quarter when Irwin Ellis dropped in a layup to break the ice.

It looked like the Bobcats would run away with it until they ran into a cold shooting spell for most of the second quarter.

Parrots’ guard Chris Johnson generated some offense in a Poly run that narrowed its deficit to 21-16 with three minutes left in the half. Johnson picked up his third foul a minute later and had to sit out the end of the quarter. He finished with nine points but never seemed to get on track in the second half.

Ten of Nzekwesi’s 22 points came off offensive rebounds. He kept the Parrots off the boards at both ends and clogged up the lane on defense. He finished with five blocked shots and forced Poly to alter several shots.

Poly never seemed to find an offensive stroke and it fell behind further in a 17-6 fourth quarter that allowed Nelson to clear the bench in the last three minutes.

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