After a close first half, Cypress Falls had a spectacular third quarter to pull away and defeat Elsik 76-59 Tuesday night in a non-district game.   “This was a big victory for us,” Eagles coach Jim Draudt said.

    Lancaster boys basketball coach Ferrin Douglas admitted his eyes lit up as soon as organizers of the Texas High School Jamboree told him one of his team's games this weekend would be against 4A state semifinalist Wheatley. But if the Tigers had any thoughts of that clash Saturday night — one which the Tigers hope might happen again in the state tournament come March — they masked them well. One of five Dallas-area teams competing at Strake Jesuit this weekend, Lancaster rolled to a 24-0 lead against defending TAPPS 6A state champion St.

  For the majority of its years, the Texas High School Jamboree has become a Houston vs. Dallas showdown in addition to being a showcase for the region’s premier talent. Friday and Saturday, the 6th annual Jamboree at Strake Jesuit will fill both those roles as well as be an outlet for area fans to watch young talent alongside and against proven veterans. In addition to the host Crusaders, who boast two Division I signees in Tim Frazier and Joey Brooks, Westfield point guard Mark Brooks, Texas Tech-bound guard Aaron Mike Davis of Wheatley and defending Southwest Preparatory Conference Division I champions Episcopal School of Dallas will highlight the 18-team field. Games begin at noon Friday when Austin LBJ plays Westbury Christian. Among the younger talent on display will be LeBryan Nash, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound sophomore forward from Dallas Lincoln; Episcopal School of Dallas guard Phil Pressey, a 5-foot-10, 150-pound junior guard and the son of ex-NBA guard Paul Pressey; and the Second Baptist trio of freshman guards L.J.

          It looked like it was going to be an early-season rout for Stratford, but the Spartans ended up having to rally in the end. Stratford jumped out to an early 20-point lead on Cypress Ridge, but the Rams rallied and pulled within four points before the Spartans put them away with a 68-62 win at home on Tuesday night.

          During a timeout early in the first quarter Tuesday night, Second Baptist boys basketball coach David Canfield issued a stern warning to one of his many underclassmen. "This game isn't all about offense," he said. With two stud freshmen and a sophomore starting, Canfield knows there will be those moments again.

  For it being only the fourth game of the season, the Memorial boys basketball team played as well as anyone. Memorial looked in midseason form against Cy-Fair, knocking down shots and playing stiff defense in a 69-48 win Monday night at Don Coleman Coliseum.

    The Cy-Fair girls basketball team was all smiles Monday night.   The Bobcats added a 5A Girls Basketball State Championship banner, then got down to business as they cruised past Elsik 60-38.    For the Bobcats (5-2), the combination of Chiney Ogwumike and newcomer Cassie Peoples was just too much for the Rams (3-3) to handle after a tight first quarter. “I think we did average,” Ogwumike said.

      Perhaps the simplest observation Stratford girls basketball coach Cathy Martin made all of Monday night prompted the biggest laugh – no matter how true it is. Asked why the Spartans have become a transition team this season, she said: “Everyone can dribble.” Then came the laugh. For the most part, Stratford’s opponents haven’t been laughing.

        Even though it’s early November and it was an early-season tournament, the atmosphere was comparable to a playoff game in March.  Jasmin Henderson hit a layup with 18 seconds left to lift Dulles to a 64-63 win over Nimitz in the championship game of the Fort Bend ISD tournament Saturday night at Wheeler Fieldhouse.

    Dulles, the No.

    One minute, Bellaire girls basketball coach Michael Kramer threw his hands up in disappointment, wondering how one of his several freshmen could miss an open layup in transition. A blink of an eye later, Kramer and his intense assistant, Rob Amboree, jumped up and pumped their fists in celebration as the same freshman whirled and threw in an almost perfectly-vertical shot amidst what amounted to a triple team. With a team of new faces intermixed with a few veterans, Kramer knows this season will have several more of those moments. Having lost three senior starters who took the Cardinals within a win of the regional final a year ago, two seniors and three freshmen played most of the way in a 49-41 win against Klein Collins in Girls Division I play of the McDonald’s Texas Invitational at Pasadena Memorial. “You never know what’s gonna happen.

Dulles girls basketball coach Doug Lechtenberger wants to keep his team in perspective as the young season begins. He preaches poise and hard work to his team, and reminds them that they are the hunted this season.   “The season is young, and it’s a long way to March,” Lechtenberger said. The Vikings – the No.

        You can tell this is a much different Cy-Fair team from last year.

        Strake Jesuit’s boys basketball team showed its might Tuesday night, running away with a 82-52 victory over host Cypress Springs.

      Memorial girls basketball fans got a first-hand look Tuesday night at why the University of Texas wanted Lauren Flores. North Shore’s sensational point guard put on a clinic, scoring 33 points – 15 of them on 3-point goals – to lead three scorers in double-figures as the Mustangs eased by host Memorial 85-53 in a non-district game. Freshman Courtney Williams added 18 points and classmate La’Mesia Bradford 11 for North Shore, which improved to 2-1 coming off a District 22-5A championship last year.

  CONROE – At least a dozen times Thursday, Jersey Village girls basketball coach Anthony DeCarlo implored his team to talk more. As eager as DeCarlo is to implement his new system with the Falcons, he understands it will take time. “It’s a whole new system; we’re trying to run the (fast-paced) Memphis stuff that (John) Calipari runs and they’re used to walking up more and working on screens,” said DeCarlo, a former boys assistant at Langham Creek who replaced Brenda Rose.

    Wednesday was a dream realized for Strake Jesuit boys basketball players Joey Brooks and Tim Frazier.

  It’s no secret that the Houston area has been a hotbed for basketball talent. And that is evident in the first preseason poll of the 2008-09 season. Seven Houston-area teams were named in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches’ preseason poll, including 2008 state finalist Dulles. The Vikings, who lost to North Crowley in the state championship game in March, are No.

Dulles High School came close to a state championship in boys basketball last season.   But this season, it’s the girls with dreams of bringing a state championship to Sugar Land. According to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches’ preseason poll, the Vikings were named the top-ranked girl’s basketball team in the state.

Strake Jesuit guard Tim Frazier announced Thursday afternoon that he will play at Penn State next year. The 6-foot-1, 160-pound guard picked the Nittany Lions over Stanford, Providence and San Diego. Crusaders coach Wayne Jones said it was the academics Penn State offers and the chance to play in a nationally-known conference in the Big Ten as the deciding factor in his decision.   “This is an excellent situation for time and for Penn State,” Jones said.

    If indeed Avery Percival fulfills his lifelong dream and plays professional basketball, he'll have traveled a much longer road than even he could have fathomed. "Road" might be the wrong word, though, because no roads directly connect the places Percival has honed his talents. After high school, the 6-foot-6 swingman from Tortola in the British Virgin Islands went to Columbia, Mo.

    It was a battle of Dallas vs.

  It’s been a long summer for the Fort Bend Hightower boys basketball team.

  Corbin Ray started Monday night's Texas High School Coaches Association boys basketball all-star game with a flourish. Abel Galliguez almost helped the South team come back from a surprising deficit. Unfortunately for Katy Taylor's Ray and Fort Bend Dulles' Galliguez, neither ended up victorious. The North team, comprised mostly of players from the Metroplex, stormed back from a double-digit first-half deficit and defeated the South 109-103 at Bill Greehey Arena at St.

      Another player's injury may pave the way for Adam Schabe to be a starting guard for Galveston Ball next year. But the junior-to-be would rather build his merits off rigorous summer work. Having attended camps earlier this week at Texas A&M and Texas State, Schabe was one of more than 100 campers in attendance Saturday at former Rice men's basketball coach Willis Wilson's Guard and Big Man camps Saturday at First Presbyterian Church in the Museum District. Schabe was chosen shortly before lunch to participate in a drill featuring V-cuts and L-cuts, moves shooters make in an attempt to shake off defenders at the offensive end. "I'm not that good a shooter right now.

  It may be the end of their high school careers, but the beginning of a new start for four area basketball players. Four Houston-area players will make up the South All-Star team against the North All-Stars  in the Texas High School Coaches Association’s All-Star Basketball game Monday night at Bill Greehey Arena on the St.

  Nneka Ogwumike, who guided the Cy-Fair girls basketball team to the 5A state championship in 2007-08, is one of six finalists for the Gatorade Athlete of the Year awarded to be presented at the ESPY Awards show Thursday night. Ogwumike is in California this week for the festivities.   The other finalists are Track and Field Athlete of the Year Chanelle Price (Easton Area High, Easton Area, Pa.), Soccer Player of the Year Teresa Noyola (Palo Alto High, Palo Alto, Calif.), Softball Player of the Year Kenzie Fowler (Canyon del Oro High, Canyon del Oro, Ariz.), Cross Country Runner of the Year Ashley Brasovan (Wellington High, Wellington, Fla.) and Volleyball Player of the Year Kelly Murphy (Joliet Catholic High, Joliet, Ill.).   The ESPY Awards take place Thursday at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles but will not be televised until 8 p.m.

            The Cy-Fair area has been invaded this weekend by some of the top female basketball teams in the country.

     (Girls and Boys)   It was an all-Houston affair in the boys championship of the Houston National Summer Showcase, held at The Woodlands High School Ninth Grade Center Tuesday night.

     The Houston National Summer Showcase got underway Sunday afternoon in The John Cooper School in The Woodlands. The tournament features boys teams from ages 15-17 and girls teams from ages 16-17.

          John Lucas has made a career of being a basketball tutor at the high school, college and pro levels. He has also become a key player in helping college coaches find talented high school players in the Houston area and in the southwest part of the United States. So it’s no surprise that Lucas is hosting the Summer Invitational Camp this weekend at the University of Houston, where over 60 high school players from Texas and across the country came to get noticed by college coaches.

    Seventy-two college basketball prospects and a slew of coaches will descend on the University of Houston Saturday and Sunday for John Lucas' 2008 Southwest Invitational Camp.   Among the attendees include local standouts Tobi Oyedeji (Bellaire), Marquette recruit Erik Williams (Cypress Springs) and Notre Dame commit Joey Brooks (Strake Jesuit). "New Mexico native Alex Kirk (a 6-foot-9 junior) is already drawing Kevin McHale comparisons and could turn out to be one of the nation's biggest sleepers," said Jim Hicks, proprietor of RCSSports.com.

  The Houston Clippers, made up of a team from the La Porte and Friendswood areas, defeated the Port Arthur Heat 44-35 in the championship game of the Slo-Motion Juneteenth basketball tournament Sunday at Yates High School. “It was a pretty good tournament,” Clippers coach Drew Parker said.

Some use the summertime to relax and unwind after a hectic school year.

    With about five minutes left in the June XPlosion championship game Sunday, Houston Hoops coach Willie Patrick said two things. First, he told his team they still had enough time to erase a 13-point deficit. Then he half-joked with a nearby reporter, telling them they’d probably end up talking to Houston Select players because they were on track to win. Patrick went 1-for-2. In a somewhat improbable turn of events, Houston Hoops fought back from an 18-point deficit with six minutes remaining, tying the game on Brandon Peters’ 3-pointer at the buzzer and winning 89-87 in two overtimes at Pearland Middle School-West. “We played some good defense down the stretch.

          There was plenty of action at the June XPlosion at Pearland Junior High School West on Saturday, where a handful of Houston-area high school basketball talent was on display. In one game, the Houston Elite fell to the Daniel Gibson All-Stars 74-65.

  The summer basketball season kicks into high gear Saturday and Sunday with the Houston Hoopstars' June XPlosion "Showdown in the South" tournament at gyms throughout the Pearland Independent School District. Local participating teams include the host Hoopstars, the Houston Elite, the Beaumont-based Southeast Texas All-Stars and the Franchize All-Stars. The Houston Elite features, among others, Memorial standout and New Mexico commit Matt Staff, Strake Jesuit's Tim Frazier and Eisenhower's Ella Ellis and Darius Goff.

(Friday) (Saturday)   {mp3}TOP 10-Houston vs.

 {mp3}TOP 10-Griner{/mp3}         From Monday, Feb.

Matt Staff says he doesn’t know much about the players in the New Mexico men’s basketball program. But once the Memorial big man took an unofficial visit to the Albuquerque campus May 2 and got in good with coach Steve Alford, Staff knew he had a chance to fit in right away. Staff, a 6-foot-9, 215-pound junior, verbally committed to the Lobos Sunday night.

  Shantel Nwanguma, who helped lead the Cinco Ranch girls basketball team to a regional final appearance, has committed to play collegiately for the University of Texas-San Antonio. Pictured at Shantel's recent signing were: Front row (left to right): Grace Nwanguma (mother), Shantel Nwanguma, George Nwanguma (father). Standing (left to right): Cinco Ranch principal Bonnie Brasic, assistant basketball coach Meredith Huey, head coach Eric Bartlett and Cinco Ranch campus athletic coordinator Don Clayton.

  (White VS.

  Judging from the performances of the past year, talk of high school basketball really must begin in Houston. And as usual, Hal Pastner is at the front of the line. The renowned promoter is bringing 681 teams to Houston for 1,333 games in the three-day Houston Kingwood Classic, beginning Friday at 66 courts in 45 area gyms from the Cypress area to Galena Park to Conroe. "It's too hard to believe," Pastner said on The Basketball Show Monday night.

  After leading Fort Bend Dulles to a 34-5 record and an appearance in the state championship game, Abel and Thomas Galliguez signed letters of intent Thursday to play basketball at John Brown University, a NAIA Division I school in Siloam Springs, Ark.   The twin brothers, both 5-feet-8, feel that the signings caps off a dream season. “It’s icing on the cake,” Abel said.

  Adaora Elonu really must not look at the scoreboard. Told she was in the middle of seemingly every play in the first quarter of the second of two Greater Houston Area Girls Basketball Association all-star games Saturday, the Elsik senior looked genuinely surprised. “Really?” Elonu said.

  Texas’ Player of the Year lived up to that billing in her final high school game. Nneka Ogwumike, who led Cy-Fair’s girls basketball team to this year’s state championship, had nine points and six rebounds Wednesday night as the West team defeated the East 80-64 in the McDonald’s All-American Game at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. The Stanford commit was 4-of-6 from the floor in 19 minutes, 35 seconds of play. Cinco Ranch’s Briana Gilbreath, a USC commit, had eight points, two rebounds and two assists in 15 minutes, 50 seconds. Ogwumike, the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches’ Player of the Year and Miss Basketball Honoree, had a standout week.

        In its eighth year of existence, the RCSSports.com Spring Ice Breaker was back in Houston for the annual basketball tournament.

  District champion Strake Jesuit and regional quarterfinalist Cypress Springs took most of the top honors on the District 17-5A boys basketball teams released Tuesday. Cy Springs’ Phillip McDonald was named Most Valuable Player, coach John Harmatuk earned Coach of the Year, and Cy Springs senior John Smith and Strake Jesuit junior Tim Frazier split co-Defensive Player of the Year honors with Cypress Ridge’s Brandon Smith. Cypress Woods’ Reynaldo Noel was named Newcomer of the Year. Strake Jesuit won its first district championship this year.

  Cy-Fair’s girls basketball team took top honors in Texas. The case was no different in the Bobcats’ own district. Stanford-bound forward Nneka Ogwumike was named Most Valuable Player, Nicole Morris was named Defensive Player of the Year and Ann Roubique was named Coach of the Year on the all-District 17-5A team released Friday. Forty Cypress-Fairbanks ISD student-athletes were named First Team, Second Team or Honorable Mention. Other Bobcats named to the First Team were Chiney Ogwumike and Mansa El. Cypress Falls’ Je’Lena Robertson was named the district’s Newcomer of the Year. The other First Teamers were Cypress Creek’s Kim Hagan and Dawn Kiel; Cy Falls’ Starr Spencer; Cypress Springs’ Nicoya Jackson and Marsharae Brown; Cypress Woods’ Erica Johnson; Jersey Village’s Amy Doyle; and Langham Creek’s Mercedes Johnson and Valerie Wood. The complete teams are as follows: First Team Nneka Ogwumike, Cy-Fair Chiney Ogwumike, Cy-Fair Nicole Morris, Cy-Fair Mansa El, Cy-Fair Kim Hagan, Cypress Creek Dawn Kiel, Cypress Creek Starr Spencer, Cypress Falls Je’Lena Robertson, Cypress Falls Nicoya Jackson, Cypress Springs Marsharae Brown, Cypress Springs Erica Johnson, Cypress Woods Amy Doyle, Jersey Village Mercedes Johnson, Langham Creek Valerie Wood, Langham Creek Second Team Megan Majewski, Cy-Fair Megan Daniel, Cy-Fair D.J.

  AUSTIN - The Wheatley boys basketball team's season came to an end Thursday night with a 95-89 loss to Fort Worth Southwest in a 4A state semifinal at the Frank Erwin Center. After trailing most of the fast-paced game, in which a combined 170 shots were attempted, Wheatley charged back to take the lead with 1:22 left on a Robert Stokes layup.