The Colleyville Heritage boys basketball team has been forced to cool its jets, with the recent inclement weather canceling or suspending games and tournaments, but coach Stephen Hamrick said it is important to remember that most area teams are not really at a disadvantage at this point.
The Panthers lost to Keller Fossil Ridge last Tuesday before the weather moved in, and Hamrick said the 46-29 defeat resulted in large part from the performance of one player.
“Ryan Parker from Fossil Ridge was phenomenal,” Hamrick said. “He played very well right off the football field. He is a very good player, and he was tough. As a team, we didn't do a good job of containing him and slowing him down. In the future, we need to be able to guard or at least contain that type of personnel more effectively.”
With the weather preventing his team from competing in games since that point, Hamrick said he will rely on other things to keep his team sharp.
“Practices are so valuable, and we have to make the most of the time we have,” Hamrick said. “The days are running out before we play our next game, and was have to be concentrated and focused, and we have to be very efficient and make use of the time we have. We can't use this [as an excuse], because everybody is going through this.”
Hamrick said he was trying to get another game in prior to the start of district with Trinity, but said that nothing is set in stone, and said that as district approaches, his team is continuing to progress.
“We're getting better,” Hamrick said. “We're not where we need to be, but this is a process, and we have a young team. Games are so valuable to us, so it makes it difficult not to be able to play right now. Games are opportunities to learn situations, to figure out the speed of the game, to adjust and adapt to certain things, and we hate to lose that.”
The Panthers open up district competition with Trinity at 8 p.m. on Dec. 16 at Trinity High School, and Hamrick said his team will have its hands full.
“They are a very good basketball team,” Hamrick said. “They have the number-one center [Myles Turner] in the country, and one that some say is the number one player. It's going to be a very physical game and a very intense game. And when you get into district play, possessions become so value, so you can't turn the ball over. We have to be efficient offensively and be able to stop them on the defensive end.”
• Over at Grapevine, the Mustangs played North Dallas on Tuesday night after the press deadline.
Grapevine will open up district competition at 8 p.m. on Dec. 16 against L. D. Bell at Grapevine High School.
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