Indians beat Walters for first win; Lady Indians fall against Davis

VELMA - The Comanche Indians picked up their first win of the season advancing to the second round of the Comet Classic, downing Walters, 53-48, on Thursday afternoon.

“It was a good thing to get that first win,” said Anthony Bowie, head coach. “I don’t want to honestly say stress was building up. I just wanted these guys to see it because this is a completely different team than last year. We had transfers coming in, we had football guys coming and then we’re breaking in a lot of guys who didn’t play a lot of varsity basketball last year. I just wanted to see those guys happy.”

And that meant keeping things upbeat in the locker room afterward.

“We told the guys that we weren’t going to talk about what we didn’t do well,” Bowie said. “We are going to celebrate the win, take it and move forward. They were happy about that, but they were also focused on tomorrow (a likely matchup with host Velma-Alma , the top seed).”

It was a freshman who would come up big when the team needed a spark in the fourth quarter. Comanche had led most of the game, but Walters fought back in the fourth quarter, led by the hot hand of Lance Martin, who knocked down four three-pointers in the period.

The lead changed hands four different times in the fourth until back-to-back three-pointers by Easton Bowen put the Indians up for good with 4:40 to go.

The Blue Devils kept things tight throughout the rest of the game, but never got closer than two points the rest of the way. 

“Easton is a big time basketball layer, but he’s also a good kid,” Bowie aid. “He’s a good person. He works hard in school. Working hard on your academics and being a good son, those things translate to everything that you do. Kobe Bryant made the statement, ‘Everything matter,’ so he works hard every single day and pays attention.”

And the coach was happy with the way the team was able to hold off the Blue Devils down the stretch. Shannon hit a three-pointer, Giovanni Demry scored on a driving layup and Bowen scored with 50 seconds left that pushed the lead to six points. Shannon made it a two-possesson game with a bucket with 31 seconds remaining after Martin hit a three with 40 seconds left in the game to cut the lead to three points.

Overall, Comanche hit 11 three-pointers in the game.

“We had good ball pressure and just did all those things that we practice on and rep,” Bowie said. “That’s what we wanted the last two or three minutes of the game and they did it.”

The Indians will play Friday at 7:30 p.m. in a winner’s bracket game.

 Scoring

Comanche (1-3): Easton Bowen, 16; Colby Shannon, 16; Jiovanni Demry, 11; Bryson Goedhart, 6; Cooper Epperson, 2; Brycen Lassley, 2

Walters (0-5): Lance Martin, 22; B.J. Palmer, 9; Trevin Reed, 9; Caleb Merden, 6; Kelton Southerland, 2

Lady Wolves 53

Lady Indians 24

Comanche stayed close throughout the first quarter, trailing 17-11 heading into the second and even led early on a basket by Jaylee Roebuck, but could not keep up as Davis steadily pulled away the rest of the game. 

The Lady Indians fought hard, but could not get their shots to fall against a tough Davis defense. The Lady Wolves' Preslee Hunt added to the pressure with 14 of her game-high points in the first half. Davis led 24-14 at the half as Comanche was limited to three points in the quarter.

The Lady Wolves kept the momentum going in the third quarter, outscoring Comanche 14-5 to take a 38-19 lead into the fourth quarter where Davis put the game away.

Comanche will take on the Cache JV on Friday at 10 a.m. in the consolation round. A win by Comanche would put the Lady Indians in the consolation championship on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Scoring

Comanche (0-4): Jentry Whaley, 8; Raelee Ellis, 5; Jaylee Roebuck, 3; Cianna O’Connor, 3; Cassidy Smith, 1

Davis (2-0): Preslee Hunt, 18; Kensley Barnes, 11; Lucia Contreras, 7; Lily Hefley, 6; Montana Carter, 4; Jacobi Lanoy, 4; Shelby Courtney, 1