Buzzword around Trinity boys basketball is ‘closing’

As the Trinity boys basketball team prepares to close out its district schedule over the next two weeks, closing might be a word heard often around the team.

Currently hovering around the fourth and final playoff spot from 7-6A (prior to Tuesday’s matchup with L.D. Bell — check www.dfwvarsity.com for results), the Trojans will need to close the season strong to ensure a postseason. To do so, the team will have to close some individual games better than they have previously this season.

“If you look at our four district losses, they’ve come by a combined 10 points,” coach Mark Villines pointed out.

Indeed, the Trojans lost to Colleyville Heritage and Bell by a single point each, and to Richland and Coppell by four points each. And in each of those games, the Trojans had a lead with less than four minutes remaining.

Still, there’s reason to believe Trinity is in good shape as it prepares to face the teams ahead of it in the district standings.

“We’re just trying to get re-acclimated with everybody back in their roles,” Villines said. “We’ve really been playing some decent basketball.”

After going just 1-4 in five games without leading scorer Jhivvan Jackson, the team’s catalyst is back and healthy and packing the punch Villines expected from him all season. Jackson is averaging 34 points over the previous three games.

“He’s back 100 percent,” Villines said. “His mind wasn’t right and he wasn’t 100 percent healthy. I think now he’s back and is really playing some of the best basketball I’ve seen him play. To me he’s the best scorer in the district.”

It’s not just his scoring, but his presence that benefits the entire team.

“It takes more pressure off everybody else,” Villines said. “He relishes the pressure, it doesn’t really bother him. Some of the other kids are getting used to playing at this level. Pressure is a huge thing. It really takes a lot of pressure off them.”

Villines said the team has started emphasizing situational drills in practices, hoping those close losses can turn into victories if those situations arise again.

“That’s what we hope we’ve learned — that when we get in these tight moments again down the stretch we’ll be the team to be able to make a play,” he said. “You try to replicate those scenarios that we might see in these games. Granted, it’s not the speed of an actual ballgame, but at least you hope they’re learning. Say what you want, but they have to be coaches on the floor. We can only do so much from the sideline.”

Importantly, the Trojans’ playoff fate still lies within their own control.

“The beauty of it is that it all rests in our hands,” Villines said. “We don’t need help from anybody. All we have to do is play good basketball and win a few of these games. That’s the way we like it — we’re going to live or die by ourselves not by somebody else.”

This story was originally published February 1, 2016 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Buzzword around Trinity boys basketball is ‘closing’."