Tuesday night should have belonged to Mesquite Horn guard Anthony Sharp.

The senior scored a game-high 40 points against Plano East, dropping in a wide array of shots as the Jaguars held the lead for most of the game.

Yet at the final buzzer, Sharp could only walk to the dressing room with his head down as No. 16 state-ranked East outscored Horn, 23-10, in the final quarter for a 73-69 victory.

"Stopping the turnovers and playing good defense," said Jeff Clarkson, East head coach. "That's what it was all about tonight."

That and free throw shooting.

Trailing 59-50 to start the final frame, East went ahead for the first time at 60-59 following a free throw by senior Patrick Birt with 5:25 to go. That the Panthers would go in front via free throw stands to reason as eight of their points during the 10-0 run came from the free throw line.

Birt ramped up his production in the second half, scoring 11 of his 15 points. He also had five rebounds.

"Patrick did a great job shooting in the lane and getting to the basket," Clarkson said.

One of the other catalysts for East's comeback was junior Zach Smith, who was at the line numerous times in the final four minutes as the game degenerated into a free throw shooting contest. Smith, who had 18 points and six boards, finished many attempts with the ball nary touching the net.

"Free throws are something Zach had been struggling with," Clarkson said, "but he's been working on it a lot and we are seeing the difference."

Horn tied the game, 68-68, with 1:04 remaining following a free throw from Sharp, but East scored four of the final five points with the last two coming off Smith free throws with 4.9 seconds remaining to set the final at 73-69.

"We only hit 1-of-2 a couple times and could have spread the game out more," Clarkson said, "but we've been working on free throws and rebounding quite a bit and that definitely made a difference tonight."

Though East's comeback was completed in the fourth quarter, it started in the third.

There, the Panthers were forced to call a timeout after Jaguars junior Alan Hodge, who had 14 points and five rebounds, buried a 3-pointer to make it, 56-42.

"We've got a 14-point lead now," said Billy Clark, Horn head coach, in the huddle. "So what we don't want to do is take ill-advised shots."

Yet that is precisely what Horn did out of the timeout. That led to back-to-back Birt baskets and a dunk from senior Xavier Smith, who had seven points and a game-high 12 rebounds, as part of an 8-0 East run. That pulled the Panthers to within 56-50 before Sharp hit a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer.

That sight had become standard by the time the third quarter was over.

Sharp set the tone with six points in the first three minutes of the game.

Aided by senior Zach Charles, who had seven points and nine rebounds before fouling out midway through the fourth, Horn went on a 7-0 run to establish a 14-7 lead. The Jaguars led at the end of the first, 20-15, and second, 38-34, despite East's cross-the-board contributions, which included nine points from senior David Havala and seven from senior Marcus Mathieu.

The sum of those contributions was no match for Sharp, who had seven boards to go with his 40 points.

"In the first half we just weren't up to par with our defense and stopping the penetration, but a lot of that had to do with [Sharp]," Clarkson said. "I've never had a player score 40 against one of my teams. We knew he had been putting up some points, but it was all working for him tonight; the jumper, pull-up, floater, 3-pointer, they were all going in.

"He was unreal."

Horn went on a 13-4 run to start the second half. Sharp had a hand in all 13, scoring 10 and assisting on a 3-pointer by Hodge. Hodge's next 3-pointer gave the Jaguars their largest lead at 56-42, but also set the stage for the Panthers' come-from-behind 73-69 win.

"Sometimes it's not about what I tell the guys in the locker room," Clarkson said. "Sometimes it comes down to want to and we wanted this game."

East, which finished third at the Curtis Culwell Invitational last weekend, returns to tournament play Thursday against Arlington Lamar at 12:30 p.m. from Cedar Hill in the C.W. Jackson Lions Club Tournament. Horn faces Rowlett that same day at 3 p.m. in the first round of the Allen Classic.

Current Rating: 0 of 0 votes!

Rate File: Select Rating: * ** *** ****

 Plano Apartments
 Plano Attorneys
 Plano Auto Dealers
 Plano Auto Parts
 Plano Auto Repair
 Plano Beauty Salons
 Plano Car Rental
 Plano Dentists
 Plano Doctors
 Plano Flowers
 Plano Hotels
 Plano Insurance
 Plano Loans
 Plano Mortgages
 Plano Movers
 Plano Pizza
 Plano Realtors
 Plano Restaurants
 Plano Storage
 Plano Tax Preparation
 Plano Travel
 Featured
 More...