Athletes Connection - Hastings, Smiley win at Houston vs. Nation tourney

	Hastings, Smiley win at Houston vs. Nation tourney
	Thursday December 27, 2007
	Written by Dave Purpura

The Hastings boys basketball team completed its tasks with such ease Thursday night that it was easy to forget the Bears are learning an entirely new system.

Hastings has rolled to a 15-4 start, the latest win being a 76-62 victory against Aldine on the first night of the Houston vs. the Nation tournament at the Aldine Campbell Center.

Chris Iles scored 19 points, Lionel Foster 15 and Ja'Darius Davis 11 for the Bears, who built a 10-point lead by early in the second quarter and thrived off their defensive pressure to take as much as a 20-point lead in the second half.

"We're nine players deep so anybody can come in at any position," Iles said. "Last year we just went up-and-down, up-and-down. Now we have a system; we have a triangle offense and stuff like that and we play together more."

That's due to coach Darrell Collins, in his first year at the school after five seasons at Texas City. He, however, credits the returners.

Hastings graduated three starters from a team that finished 28-10 and advanced to the regional semifinals.

"It helps when you inherit a good group of kids," Collins said. "These kids have been here before and they know how to win. We have to get better at finishing games, but when you come out and score 76 in the first game after Christmas, you can't be mad about that."

Foster and Davis each had six rebounds for Hastings.

Brandon Williams had 17 points and five rebounds to lead Aldine, which shot only 22-of-66.

Donald Boston added 13 points and Isiah Archie 12.

"They have some pretty good shooters and we weren't going to give them anything," Collins said. "Luckily they were missing."

Smiley 74, Seven Lakes 58

A 12-0 run in the first 3 minutes, 40 seconds of the second quarter broke a 10-10 tie and gave Smiley (11-4) all the cushion it needed against Seven Lakes (12-5).

Smiley's frontcourt trio of Augustine Rubbit, Jonathan Simmons and Benny Easter combined for 58 points. Rubbit led the way with 32 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 13 rebounds.

"We picked it up a level (in the second quarter). That's all we did," Smiley coach James Norman said. "We got our inside game going. The kids put the ball on the floor, we went to the hoop, got a little contact and a couple big calls went our way."

Brandon Provost had team-highs of 25 points and six rebounds for Seven Lakes, widely considered the favorites in 24-4A. He hit five 3-pointers in the third quarter to trim Smiley's lead to 44-40, but the Spartans got no closer.

Kingwood 41, DeLaSalle (Minn.) 30

It took until the fourth quarter for the scoring to begin in earnest, and the honors went to 2007 state runner-up Kingwood (9-3) against Minneapolis De La Salle (0-3), winners of three state titles the last decade.

The teams were tied at 5 after the first quarter and it was 25-23 after the third before the Mustangs scored eight unanswered points early in the fourth.

"We had some fresh legs off the bench in the fourth quarter and that really helped," Kingwood coach Royce Huseman said. "We need games like this going into district. That's what district play is all about."

Tevin Svihovec led Kingwood with 13 points.