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Consistently inconsistent: Wildcats up and down through first month of season
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
Consider the past 10 days of the Plano Senior boys basketball team a microcosm of the Wildcats' non-district schedule thus far.
With last week's slate dealing the team one game at home -- Plano's first since Nov. 16 -- and one on the road, the Wildcats split matchups against The Colony and Highland Park in what has been an up-and-down road through the first month of the season.
"I think we're lacking a bit in consistency," said Phil Parlin, Plano head coach. "We have good runs at it and then we'll play not so well. We've had people out with family stuff and injuries that contributed to that. I'm happy how hard the guys are playing and we've seen some good things, but we're just shooting for consistency with it all."
The victory wasn't without its share of heroics, with Plano overcoming a 36-25 hole at halftime.
"We got a great contribution from some guys off our bench," Parlin said. "We were able to get success really early in the quarter which carried over. We made some big shots and got some big stops."
In particular, Parlin noted junior Chris Andersen for sparking the rally in a third quarter that saw Plano outscore The Colony, 21-7. It was enough to flip the 11-point halftime deficit and give the Wildcats a 46-43 lead entering the fourth.
The Cougars reclaimed a four-point advantage during the final frame but Plano rallied to play The Colony to an 11-11 stalemate over the last eight minutes to secure the win.
Sophomore Jason Bardgett led the Wildcats with 13 points while senior Dustin Bercutt chipped in 12 and Andersen scored nine. The win was especially relieving for the Wildcats, who had suffered a 44-33 setback against The Colony mere days earlier at the Keller tournament.
"The guys were so excited," Parlin said. "It was a huge confidence builder that we were able to come back from that tough deficit, but we put ourselves in that same spot against Highland Park and you can't expect to come back like that every game."
An early slump against the Scots didn't work in Plano's favor Friday, with Highland Park building a 29-16 lead by halftime and never looking back for a 55-35 victory.
"[Highland Park] shot the ball real well," Parlin said. "We weren't able to match them offensively and we just didn't get shots that we've been making a lot to go down."
That was particularly evident in the second and fourth quarters, where Plano scored just five points in each stanza en route to its second-lowest scoring total of the season. Seniors Sheldon O'Neal and Broderick Perkins accounted for 21 of the team's 35 points, with O'Neal scoring 11 and Perkins posting 10.
The two-game stretch typified non-district play thus far, in that the Wildcats have strung together streaks of four wins and three losses during the first month of play.
Plano eyes a modicum of consistency in its final tournament of the season on Dec. 27-29 for the team's annual host event, the Plano Wildcat Holiday Classic. A staple in the Wildcats' schedule, Plano opens tournament play Thursday at 5 p.m. against Carrollton Creekview.
"We've hosted this tournament for a long time and it's important to us," Parlin said. "Our guys really like playing in it and it's a chance to play on our homecourt for a change and hopefully do well in it.
"We've done well in the past and we expect to do the same again."
For continued news and coverage on the local sports scene, follow @MWelchSCN on Twitter.
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