It probably wasn’t a huge surprise that at the end of Friday evening, the three Amarillo ISD schools were in a logjam atop the District 3-5A boys basketball standings.
The big surprise was that it happened so easily for one of them while another one was forced to give up its lofty perch.
Palo Duro hosted Tascosa with the homestanding Dons hoping to force a three-way tie with the visiting Rebels and idle Amarillo High. The Dons seized the opportunity to join the other two AISD teams at the top of 3-5A, jumping to an early lead and never letting up in routing Tascosa 80-47.
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Not only is Palo Duro (22-5, 11-2 in 3-5A) tied with Tascosa (22-6, 11-2) and Amarillo High for the district lead, but all three AISD schools are guaranteed a playoff berth as the week ended. That happened because Lubbock Monterey beat Lubbock Cooper, putting all three AISD teams in the postseason.
Palo Duro, who lost the first meeting with the Rebels at Tascosa 65-56, seemed determined from the start to not let that happen. Zalen Nodine, Cheston Mitchell and Cuda Clayton hit consecutive 3-pointers as the Dons jumped out to a 10-0 lead and Tascosa didn’t make much of a threat after that.
“We needed to get out to a fast start because (the Rebels) are a good team and you kind of want them digging out of the hole instead of us trying to dig out of the hole,” PD coach Marquis Loftis said. “I didn’t know we were going to shoot that well but we did. I told them we needed to start hitting shots to win games.”
The Dons were particularly effective from 3-point range, as they hit 10 threes. Five players hit 3-pointers in the first three quarters as they steadily built a comfortable lead.
Loftis challenged his team prior to the game to start hitting more from the outside.
“To be honest I give them a hard time about our shooting sometimes,” Loftis said. “Sometimes we’re hot and sometimes we’re not and today we did our game day shooting before the game and I told them to win this game. I said if you have an open shot you better let it go. If you don’t shoot it, then you’re out.”
Clayton hit three 3-pointers in the first half and was Palo Duro’s steadiest scorer as the Dons led by as many as 19 in the first half to take a 37-19 halftime lead. He had a game-high 24 points.
DeJuan Flenory came off the bench to hit three treys for the Dons and had 16 points. He scored eight in the third quarter as Palo Duro pulled away and made the outcome a mere formality.
The result was far more positive this time for Dons against Tascosa, which never got closer than 14 points in the second half. Loftis said it was a simple matter of better effort.
“It was showing up and acting like you want to be there,” Loftis said. “Just listening to the game plan and understanding what we want them to do. The first time we were just out there doing our own thing and I didn’t think we were together. Guys were just trying to do their own thing and I think maybe the atmosphere was too big for us.”
The Dons had a balanced night offensively, as Mitchell had 13 points and Deuce Reese had 12.
LaDarius Godbolt was Tascosa’s only scorer in double figures with 20 points. However, Godbolt, who has led the Rebels in scoring all season, got off to a slow start as he was scoreless in the first quarter.