Wildcats counter hot start to take control of second place in district

02:13 AM CST on Wednesday, February 2, 2005
From Staff Reports to The Dallas Morning News

ALLEN – Plano's guards shot Allen out of its zone defense then showed the ability to get to the basket against the Eagles' man-to-man defense. That formula helped Plano defeat Allen, 63-57, in a key District 8-5A game Tuesday night.

The outcome, combined with Plano East's 69-59 victory against Plano West, left Plano in sole possession of second place in the district with four district games to play. Plano (20-6, 7-3) trails Plano East by two games. Allen (21-9, 6-4) is tied with Plano West for third place.

Early on it was Allen that had the hot hand from the outside as senior guard Bryan Baumann scored its first 10 points, knocking down three 3-pointers as Allen built a 17-10 lead.

"I was just real happy we were able to counter their hot start," Plano coach Tom Inman said. "I told the guys, they were going to try to shoot us out of the gym."

Plano used its inside game to close its deficit and then got back-to-back 3 pointers by junior point guard Brandon Ware late in the half to take a 34-29 lead at intermission. After Plano guard Mark Foster opened the second half by hitting a 3-pointer, Allen went from a zone to man-to-man defense but was never able to get closer than four points as Plano's guards continually got into the lane for easy baskets.

Ware led Plano's balanced attack with 17 points. He was one of four Wildcats who finished in double figures. Joseph Fulce scored 13, Travis Vance had 12 and Eric Zastoupil finished with 10 points.

Allen's Baumann led all scorers with 19 points, including four 3-pointers. Jeff Staunbaugh, who had three 3-pointers, scored 13 points and Luke Barr had 11.