Ships fall to Furr in bi-district basketball game

From the Brazosport Facts
CLUTE — Houston Furr used its size and physical presence to dominate the second half and pull away Tuesday night for an easy, 71-54 Class 4A Region III bidistrict round victory over Brazosport at Brazoswood Performance Gym.

Furr’s physicality showed up at the foul line, with the Brahman hitting 15 of 20 charities while the Ships made it to the stripe just five times, connecting on three.

After a closely contested first half, a switch in scheme by Furr left the Ships defenseless and they fell behind by as many as 23 points in the third period.

“We were getting beat baseline, and when we had to help, they were dumping off to their big and physical players for layups or the foul and free throws,” Brazosport head coach Travis Pittman said. “We knew they had big players from the film and had a plan, but the dribble penetration hurt us.”

The Ships got off to a slow start and went down 11-0 before calling a timeout less than midway through the opening period. Furr’s Ja’kobi Joubert got the scoring started with a three from the right wing before Khris Simon began pounding the ball down low on his way to a game-high 24 points.

Brazosport started finding a rhythm out of the timeout, with Daraell Preston’s layup putting his team’s first points on the board. On the Ships’ next possession, Preston received the ball in the paint before kicking out to Sincere Mitchell, who hit his first three of the game. As the first quarter ended, the Ships were in striking distance.

Mitchell hit three straight 3-pointers in the second period to pull Brazosport within 25-24. Mitchell started his run with a spot-up three from the left wing, followed by another from several feet behind the arc. After pushing the ball in transition on the right, he stepped back to create space and netted his third trey, bringing the crowd to its feet.

Furr then snapped back to life. Simon, who had 20 points in the half, sparked a run that included a rim-shaking putback dunk by Stephan Morris as the Brahman rebuilt their lead. Brazosport had the last shot of the half, a quick two from Preston off a slick dish from Rayleen Bell that made it 42-29.

Morris began to get more involved in the game after only scoring five in the first half, and his offensive rebounding caused problems for the Ships. Guillermo Morales had only the second Furr three of the game when Simon kicked it to him in the left corner. The low-scoring quarter saw Furr build its advantage to 23 points with a 9-2 run before another assist by Bell to Hayden McDaniel in the corner for a buzzer-beating three cut it back to 20.

Bell hit consecutive threes to create some energy in the Ships again and later added a third on his way to 10 points in the fourth quarter. Brazosport couldn’t get consistent buckets, however, and Furr retook the momentum and the game.

Brazosport finishes the season 13-14 and will lose seven players to graduation.

“We saw this season that tradition doesn’t graduate,” Pittman said. “We lost nine seniors from last season and still got back here to the playoffs. These boys stepped up in a big way. I’m so proud of them.”