It was raining threes in the Tomball gym Dec. 28, as the Cougars poured in 12 three-pointers in a 71-52 thrashing of Jersey Village.

“Our effort was really, really good,” Tomball head coach Brad Ball said. “We played a lot of guys in our rotation and because of that, we didn’t look fatigued.”

Photo: Tomball’s Brock O’Rourke fires up a shot in Tomball’s 71-52 victory over Jersey Village Dec. 28. The Cougars improved to 9-8 this season.

The contest started off with a bang, as Brock O’Rourke hit for three of his game high 14 points on Tomball’s opening possession. After a Jersey Village miss, Matt Clark also hit a three and Tomball seemed to be off and running.

Jersey Village fought back, however, by driving the lane and getting several layups to only trail 20-18 after one period.

Tomball opened the second quarter by racing to a 37-26 lead, bolstered by five points from O’Rourke. A Jersey Village three with 30 seconds remaining seemed like it would cut the Tomball lead to single digits at the half, but Cody Chaffin hit a 30-foot buzzer beater to extend the lead to 40-29 at the break.

The Cougars came out of the locker room ice cold, failing to hit a single shot until just over three minutes remained in the third period. A seven-point run from Jersey Village cut the lead to 41-38, before Chaffin hit back-to-back three-pointers to extend the lead to 47-40.

“We did not execute very well for the first few possessions of the quarter,” Ball said. “A lot of our turnovers tend to be unforced and if we clean that up we can be really good.”

The Cougars would sandwich two Clark layups around a Jersey Village three to lead 51-43, heading into the final period.

Tomball turned up the defensive pressure in the final period, forcing several turnovers, while Tyler Pavlas, O’Rourke and Marquees Grayson kept attacking the basket. Pavlas and Ian Bates scored five fourth quarter points each, while Grayson added four and a couple of steals to seal the win. The Cougars outscored Jersey Village 20-9 in the final period to secure the win.

“The way we play defense − hard nosed makes other teams have to work for shots,” Pavlas said. “We want to make the playoffs and be known as the hardest working team in Tomball history.”

Ball credited the play of his bench players as a reason for the blowout victory.

“Our bench came through for us tonight,” he said. “They played really well.”

Clark tied O’Rourke for team high’s in points, with 14, while Chaffin added 12 points on the strength of four three-pointers. Pavlas and Nathan Fannon added six points, while Mitch Toller and Bates pumped in five each. Daniel Prince (four points), Grayson (four) and Matt Trotter (one) rounded out the scoring for Tomball.

The Cougars improved to 9-8 on the season and took on an athletic Spring squad on New Year’s Eve. Results were not available as of press time.

Photo by Caleb Harris

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