Panthers come up short vs. Mustangs in non-district rivalry

The Colleyville Heritage boys basketball team lost its final game before the holiday break by seven points to Grapevine, but coach Steven Hamrick said that his team fought hard in the game and said it felt good to carry on the tradition of playing the Mustangs.

The Panthers took a week off before entering the Centennial tournament, part of that being the UIL-mandated five-day break, and Hamrick said he wanted his team to use that time to heal up from some bumps and bruises that have been dealing with.

“It’s always tough when you come off of a break,” Hamrick said. “We will use those games to kind of play ourselves back into shape and try to get better and find our rhythm. Confidence is very good.

“The Grapevine game was a tough one, but going into the break, we’re 12-3, and in August if someone told us we’d be 12-3, we’d be pretty pleased, and we are pretty pleased. We’ve still got a lot of growth in front of us, and I look forward to see us improve.”

Colleyville Heritage lost to Grapevine by a score of 50-43, and Hamrick said his team struggled in a couple of areas.

“I thought we played hard,” Hamrick said. “We just didn’t play as well as I would have hoped. We didn’t execute very well, and we had a hard time scoring. I give Grapevine credit for that. We shot 20 percent from the field, and if you are going to win on the road, you have to do better than that.”

Hamrick said that he was anticipating a high-energy game with great atmosphere with the Mustangs, and that certainly did happen.

“There was great fan support for both schools,” Hamrick said. “It is always fun to play that game and compete with those guys, and moving forward down the road, I hope that prepares us to play in district games in big moments like that, where the intensity is at a high level.”

Colleyville Heritage will play Trinity in its first game back from the break on Jan. 3, and Hamrick said he expects a tough game.

“Any time you go and play on the road in district competition, it’s always tough,” Hamrick said. “That is a tough environment at Trinity against a team that has a lot of pride and are the defending district champions. It ought to be good. We are looking forward to that day and the game, and just trying to prepare to get better for that moment.”

This story was originally published December 26, 2014 at 1:47 PM with the headline "Panthers come up short vs. Mustangs in non-district rivalry."