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MARCH 13 | 2014 | DEFENDER
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sportsbriefs Yates’ storybook season ends
The North Shore High School boys beat Converse Judson to win state.
North Shore boys claim 1st state title
Tanner Leissner. “Wacker is a great post and I had to come into this game knowing that I’m an undersized post and I just had to play AUSTIN – It came down to a commithim strong,” said Foster, who was named ment made back in the offseason. championship game Most Valuable Player The North Shore High School boys’ for his 16-point, 10-rebound performance. varsity basketball team met with coaches to “He scored some points on me but I didn’t discuss team goals and expectations for the get down on myself. I had to keep playing upcoming 2013-14 season. It takes junior defense on him. 6-foot-5 post Jarrey Foster to tell the story “I like to go to the board strong, and from there. everything I do under the basket has to be “I’m an undersized post and I was one Foster accepts the MVP strong because I have to help my team out,” of the tallest guys [6-6 reserve Adrian Brown Jarrey trophy. Foster said. “We’re not as tall was the other] in the room,” as most teams. So we had to Foster said. “We knew that we go strong and use our speed are an undersized team and we Find out what Brandon Green has to say to close out on their shooters had to change our defensive about winning the state title and box out the big men.” philosophy from last year. The strategy worked “We had to buy into what and notched head coach David Green his first state title after the coaches said and use pressure defense,” Foster said. “Even guiding four different schools to the state tournament. North though it’s a lot of hard work, we run at practice every day. So Shore won nine games the season before Green’s arrival and we’re in shape and it worked out all season.” have won 30-or-more games in his three seasons. It worked for the 35-3 Mustangs during the regular season. In addition to strong efforts from forward Kerwin And in the Class 5A state championship game against top-ranked Roach (15 points, six rebounds) and guards Brandon Etienne Converse Judson, North Shore’s pressure defense set the tone (six points, zero turnovers) and Jalin Hart (four points, zero early and worked to perfection as the Mustangs pulled away for turnovers), the moment was made sweeter by the presence of a 57-45 victory before 10,432 fans at the Erwin Center. Green’s son Brandon. Although outrebounded 29-25, North Shore forced 18 After sitting out last season’s varsity schedule, Brandon turnovers while committing only four and dug out seven steals Green played 31 minutes and finished with 11 points, three to one for Judson. This was while defending rebounds, two assists and one steal against Converse Judson. 6-foot-9 David Wacker and 6-foot-7 “Sometime things happen for a reason and God knows what’s best for us,” said Coach Green. “It hurt my heart last year and I dusted it off and took it to the side and Kerwin Roach told my son that we were going to continue to work. Coach David Brandon Green Green “Trials and tribulations are going to make you stronger,” Green said. “Your day will come and this is his day along with his teammates. So that makes it fulfilling.” Ranked No. 1 among Class 5A schools for most of the season, Converse Judson (37-2) was led by Wacker with 13 points and 10 rebounds. No other Rocket scored in double figures. By DARRELL K. ARDISON Defender
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It appeared that the Yates Lions were fighting themselves as much as the defending state champions. Yates versus Dallas Madison was a rematch of the 2013 Class 3A boys’ state title basketball game. The Lions felt this time would be different from the convincing loss to Madison a year ago. Advancing to the state tournament was becoming familiar ground for Yates, which was accomplishing the feat for the fifth time in six years. Yates brought home state titles in 2009-10. Yet things have become a bit more complicated since then. The latest chapter was an 82-70 loss to Dallas Madison and plenty of tears in the aftermath. The Lions struggled to convert high-percentage shots and fared even worse from long distance (4 of 24). Despite owning a height advantage inside, Yates was outrebounded 57-31. “As the game wore on we got out of kilter,” said Yates head coach Greg Wise. “At halftime we talked about everyone playing their roles and getting to the basket. We got shots but the wrong people were taking the shots. In the heat of battle, we lost our focus.”
Boys’ tournament tidbits Dallas Madison coach Roderick Johnson won a state title in his first year with the Trojans as head coach. His brother Royce Johnson, the head coach at Dallas Kimball, won his third title in four years with a 52-37 victory over Amarillo in the Class 4A state championship game. Their father, Goree Johnson, won state titles at Dallas Kimball in 1996 and 1997. “Life is good,” said Roderick Johnson. “All of us feel blessed.”
Former Cougar Williams dies Rob Williams, a former University of Houston guard and member of “Phi Slama Jama,” died March 10 of congestive heart failure. He was 52. Williams played for the Cougars from 1979 to 1982 and ranks as the program’s fifth all-time leading scorer with 1,838 points. He helped lead the Cougars to a combined 70 wins in three seasons and the 1982 NCAA Final Four. He earned All-America Third-Team honors in 1981 after averaging a team-best 25.0 points per game on the way to being named Southwest Conference Player of the Year. Williams played professionally with the Denver Nuggets, Continental Basketball Association and United States Basketball League and also played overseas. Following his basketball career, Williams and his family ran a care facility for mentally challenged adults in Katy.
Soccer player turns pro Sebastien Ibeagha, a Fort Bend Hightower Hurricane standout (2010) signed a two-year contract to play professional soccer with AC Horsens in Denmark. Ibeagha played collegiately at Duke and started all 70 games he played, scoring eight goals and adding three assists. Prior to attending Duke, the 22-year-old Ibeagha was a member of the Houston Dynamo’s academy. He is the brother of former Duke defender Christian Ibeagha, who plays for the Bohemians in the Czech Republic. “I left Duke to look for the place I could develop most as a player, and I chose Danish football, where more Americans have done well,” Ibeagha said.
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