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Uncharted territory: Sachse boys basketball team prepares for first playoff game
By DEVIN HASSON, dhasson@starlocalnews.com
The wait was longer than they would have liked, but the Sachse boys basketball team is finally doing something this week that it has been striving to do since 2005--preparing for a playoff game.
After years of close calls and near misses, the Mustangs broke through this season, finishing district play with a 6-6 record, which was good enough to earn them the No. 3 seed out of 11-5A.
Sachse (14-15) will make its postseason introduction on Tuesday night when it meets Horn (16-14), the second seed from 12-5A, in a Class 5A bi-district playoff game at Royse City High School.
"These kids, all year, have bought into the schemes and what I asked them to do," he said. "We play hard, we play tough defense and we try to contorl the boards ... that is what was asked of them and that is what they have done."
The catalyst for the Mustangs is point guard A.J. Goss. The 5-9 senior might not be big in stature, but he is huge in the impact he has on the team.
"His leadership and his maturity from last year to this year is a major part of why we are here," Williams said. "He can run the offense, if we need to score, he can score and then he can turn around and shut down the other team's best player on the other end ... he really just does it all."
Williams also credited the leadership of Jake Gross, another senior on a team that includes several juniors in key roles.
This will be the Mustangs' first official playoff game, but they like to believe they will not be seeing anything new.
Sachse has played several strong teams, including South Grand Prairie, Plano East and Woodrow Wilson in non-district action, and they come out of a district that features Rowlett and Lakeview.
They are hoping to draw on those experiences tomorrow night.
"We told them at the time that this is a playoff atmosphere, these are the types of teams that you are going to be seeing later on," Williams said. "The guys understood that and I feel like those earlier games will help get rid of any jitters."
Unlike themselves, the Mustangs will be facing a Horn team that is making its seventh consecutive playoff appearance. The Jaguars have been playing their best ball of the season of late, winning nine of their last 10, including a 61-48 victory in a seeding game against Longview on Friday.
While Williams noted 6-6 post Zach Charles and 6-0 wing Alan Hodge as players the defense will need to keep an eye on, the focal point will be guard Anthony Sharp, who runs the show for the Jaguars on offense and is also one of the most explosive scorers in the area.
"We really need to try to limit the effectiveness of the point guard," Williams said. "If we can do that, then I think we have a good chance to beat them."
The boys basketball team has watched as other Sachse programs made their breakthroughs into the postseason and now it is their turn.
And while the program has been steadily building during the last nine years, it has only been recently that the Mustangs were ready to make their jump.
"I think it really started with the seniors last year, Eric Chavez and Jonathan Colunga. They were great leaders who worked hard and this year's seniors really watched those guys and learned from them," Williams said. "This is a good group and it is fun to watch because they work so hard and they play hard, so it is nice to see them enjoy the success they have earned and they will always be the first class to make the playoffs."
Follow Devin Hasson on Twitter: @DevinHasson
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