Mustangs playing at high level as district begins

As the Grapevine boys basketball team gears up in district play, coach Kevin Starnes said his team is competing at a high level and should be ready for a good showing.

The Mustangs wrapped up the LC Holiday Shootout with a victory over Garland Lakeview Centennial this past weekend, and Starnes said his team played very well.

“We had played two previous games before that one, and just didn't look like ourselves,” Starnes said. “I felt like it was important for us in this last non-district game to go out and have a good feeling when we walked off the floor, and we did. I thought our kids battled hard from beginning to end. I thought we had our energy back and our chemistry back.

“We had finally found where we left off before the break. We defeated Colleyville Heritage before the break, felt good about that, and it took us a couple of games to get back to that, but I felt the Centennial game we found our rhythm again.”

Starnes said he has had a couple of players step up early on, but said one player in particular is doing especially well.

“Daniel Eibel is averaging about 18.5 points per game on the season,” Starnes said. “He had about 25 against Colleyville Heritage. He's been scoring, but the great thing you can say about him is that he is also getting his teammates into positions where they can be successful as well.

“He's not just being a shooter, now he is a scorer and helping this teammates to be successful. That is what we need from him. It's not just him shooting the ball. It's him scoring and being effective for our team, and he is doing that. He is drawing the defense to allow his teammates to get shots and getting assists.”

Starnes said that if he did have one area of concern on his team it would be youth, but added that he feels his team is right where it needs to be at this point.

“I think that our inexperience is always a question mark,” Starnes said. “But I feel pretty good about us now. We are hoping to get Bryce Batchelor back in a couple of weeks, and that will help us. We've some other kids that are starting to find new roles on our teams, and things ares starting to fall into place for our team.”

Grapevine opened district against Fort Worth Carter-Riverside on Tuesday night after the press deadline and will square off with Birdville at 8 p.m. on Friday at Birdville High School.

“They shoot it really well,” Starnes said of Birdville. “They made 16 three pointers against Euless Trinity, and there have been some games where we haven't scored 48 points total. So we have to defend against their shooters. They have some other weapons, but if they're going to win the game, that's how they are going to win it. We've got to do a good job defensively.”

This story was originally published January 5, 2015 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Mustangs playing at high level as district begins."