Still, Tuesday night was a legit mid-district test between No. 20 Amarillo High and No. 22 Palo Duro – the two powers of the district – and it was AHS passing the exam.
Propelled by a fast start, five 3-pointers from unselfish play and crisp passing, along with the double-double and physical play of 6-4 senior Creed Barnes, AHS rolled to a 20-point lead 12 minutes in and finished with a 48-38 win over the Dons before 1,700 fans in the AHS Activity Center.
The Sandies stretched their win streak to seven, improved to 21-5 overall and took over sole possession of first place in 3-5A with a 7-0 record.
AHS coach Jason Pillion was obviously pleased with his players’ effort, even though he thought his team in the second half played more to hold the lead rather than aggressively build on it.
“This was a really good district win,” Pillion said. “Number one you want to protect your home court. And any time you can win in a spirited environment says a lot about your toughness.”
Palo Duro saw its 13-game win streak end and lost for the second time all year now sitting at 21-2 overall and 6-1 in 3-5A.
PD coach Maquis Loftis saw his team open 3-of-13 from the floor during the opening 12 minutes, some of that certainly due to AHS’ impressive man-to-man defense denying the Dons open looks.
“They did what they do,” Loftis said. “It gave us trouble and it’s always like that the first time we play Amarillo High. Our kids have to get accustomed to how physical they are, their style and things like that.
“We fought and that’s what I like about these guys, they don’t give up. We have been down 13 or 15 before so it’s nothing we haven’t been through. It’s just the atmosphere and the moment sometimes kind of gets too big. I thought overall we handled ourselves well. If a couple of more baskets fall and it’s a different game.”
AHS led 29-9 with 4:07 to play in the first half having made five of the seven 3-pointers it would on the game and limiting PD to that 3-of-13 shooting struggle from the floor.
And it was three different Sandie players contributing from beyond the arc making it tough for PD to pick one player to shut down.
Barnes and senior Joaquin Ortega each contributed a trey, while sophomore Jaxson Richards and senior Will Williams added a pair of makes from beyond the arc. Williams’ second of his two 3-pointers put AHS ahead 29-9 with 4:07 to play in the first half. Williams had all seven of his points in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, PD loves an up-tempo game and had opened the scoring of the game 49 seconds in on a Kyron Brown 3-pointer from the corner. But it was AHS dictating the pace early as the Dons found life in a halfcourt game tough managing two more baskets and a pair of free throws to that 4:07 mark of the second.
“We did a good job early, we limited them to one shot a lot of times and made them take contested shots,” Pillion said. “So, I thought our defense was really good early closing gaps on penetration. And then I thought our offense was really good. I thought we hit some threes and obviously that makes any offense good. But I felt like we did things to get easier threes, we cut well, we got the ball in the paint and shot inside-out threes, so I thought it was a great start.”
The Dons would hold AHS without a point the opening 5:06 of final 8-minute quarter and cut the AHS lead to under 10 points at 43-34 briefly with 3:24 to play when Cuda Clayton fed Victor Juarez with an easy basket.
But all in all, the was AHS’ night.
Barnes’ energy keyed play after play for the Sandies throughout the game with his physical and leaping presence finishing with a team-high 12 points and was a force in the paint with 11 rebounds.
“Barnes is physical, he’s a big body and he knows how to play,” Loftis said. “And it’s like you have to hit him first, if not you can’t let him go wherever he wants to go on the court because he he’s a matchup problem.”
Said Pillion: “If Barnes isn’t blocking the shot, he’s making them take a hard shot and when he plays with energy and aggressiveness and confidence, he can totally change a game. We feed off his energy. In two of our bigger games with Tascosa and now Palo Duro he’s had double doubles.”
Barnes was the lone AHS player scoring in double figures in the low-scoring game. He was followed by senior Zach Brown with nine, while Ortega added eight, Williams had seven and Brodie Von Netzer finished with six.
Juarez scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half. Also, scoring double figures for PD was Clayton with 10, while Brown added nine (all in the first half).
“This is a good learning lesson good,” Loftis said. “Hey, we have nine more district games left and it’s just one.”
