February 20, 2007
By Kevin Hageland, Staff Writer / Plano Star

PLANO - After Plano East and Plano both went through tough non-district schedules and a brutal 14-game stretch in District 9-5A, the road won’t get any easier.

The Panthers are seven games away from capturing the first state championship, for any UIL sport, in East’s history, while the Wildcats are seven games away from defending their state crown. Although the two teams are very different, they both have the same goal and will both start the playoffs at the same venue, as Plano and East will open the postseason as part of a doubleheader Wednesday at SMU’s Moody Coliseum.

“I’ve always loved playing at Moody, it has a really old school environment,” said Tom Inman, Plano head coach. “Plus, it will be really cool having Plano and East playing back-to-back.”

The Wildcats will [be] start the show as they take on South Garland (10-4, 23-9) in the first game of the doubleheader at 6 p.m. The Colonels won four of their final five games, including a victory over district champion North Garland, to take second place in District 10-5A.

And although South Garland has a player named Nick Van Exel, the Colonels largely rely on contributions from a pair of seniors to get their offense going. Keith Huggins is the Colonels leading scorer, as the 5-foot-11 senior paces the team with 14.8 points per game.

South Garland’s other main offensive weapon is 6-foot-8 Barry Honore, who averages 13.4 ppg. But, it is on the glass where Honore does his real damage. The Colonels’ center led all players in District 10-5A with 12.3 rebounds per game. But Inman appears to have a plan in place to counteract Honore.

“We are going to try and get the big guy lost in the zone,” Inman said. “If he doesn’t get as many touches maybe that will frustrate him.”

Inman also said he likes the prospect that South Garland will be using a press defense, pointing out that only one of the Wildcats’ losses, South Oak Cliff, came against a team that employed that strategy. Inman added senior John Roberson would likely be licking his lips at the prospect of taking on a press defense.

And although Plano enters the postseason as the defending state champions, don’t expect the Wildcats to be under a great deal of added pressure.

“I feel less pressure now than I did going through district,” Inman said. “No defense has been able to stop John all year and we are getting Nate (Christian) back, so I am excited to see how deep into the playoffs we can go.”

When the Panthers begin play at 8 p.m. Wednesday, the challenge might be a bit more difficult as they are facing a North Garland team that ran roughshod over District 10-5A en route to capturing the district title. The Red Raiders (21-6, 12-2) won 11 straight before losing their regular season finale to South Garland and are 15-2 since Dec. 21.

“North Garland dominated that district,” said Doug Bleadorn, East head coach. “They are a very athletic team with strong rebounding abilities.”

Offensively, Bleadorn described his team and the Red Raiders as being similar in the sense that both squads have multiple contributors capable of filling up a box score. North Garland is led by senior Hubert Anyiam, who is averaging 16.2 ppg. The 6-foot-1 senior also averages 5.5 rpg and leads the team with 3.9 assists per game.

The Red Raiders other two leading scorers, Kevrin Nealond and Tramond Haley, are nearly mirror images of one another on the court. Both players are 6-foot-2 juniors that average 10.6 ppg. Nealond averages 6.5 rpg, while Haley is just behind him with 6.4 rpg.

“Defensively, North Garland normally tries to keep their opponents down in the 50s, so they are going to want to slow things down, while we are going to try and push the tempo of the game,” Bleadorn said. “The key for us will be limiting their second and third opportunities at the basket.”

While Bleadorn is no stranger to the postseason, many of his players are, as juniors Anthony Hill and John West are the only two Panthers with any real playoff experience. But Bleadorn added that East has played a tough schedule and many players on the team have gotten a significant amount of court time, so he expects them to be ready.

“The playoffs are a whole new level of intensity though,” Bleadorn said. “So, we are going to have to step up our game.”

Tickets will be on sale at a price of $3 for students and $5 for adults. Tickets will be good for admission to both games.

“It has been a while, so I am glad we are returning to SMU,” Bleadorn said. “These kids work really hard and they deserve the best. I hope there is a big crowd in attendance to cheer on our kids.”