Kilgore,TX- On Wednesday night, November 30th, the Cougars faced the Kilgore College Rangers, the #12 team in the country. Coastal Bend opened up their first Region XIV Conference game of the season on the road in Kilgore. The Rangers were hungry after coming off of their loss to Weatherford College four nights before. Ranger Guard, DaVeon Thomas, arguably the best player in the country, started off the game hot hitting his first 6 shots. The duo of Brieon Powell and Malik Nash answered back with a couple of buckets of their own for the Cougars. By the first media timeout the Rangers led the charge 15-11.
Thomas continued to add to his totals as play ensued going 6-6 despite being under heavy pressure. The Rangers stretched their lead to 9, 23-14, whenver Coach Robert Byrd called a timeout to get the Cougars nerves under control. The timeout proved fruitful as the Cougars cut into the lead with a key turnover in their press defense and a couple of free throws by Freshman Sam Esan. Thomas responded with a powerful slam to help stop the bleeding for the Rangers, pushing the lead to 14, 33-19, at the 4 minute mark. Key stops by the Cougars and a momentum changing dunk by Sophomore Breion Powell allowed the Cougars to end the quarter down 11 points 41-30.
The second half proved much better for Coastal Bend as the Fighting Cougars opened up the first 4 minutes on a 15-3 run. Hard defensive pressure and strong baskets by Sophomores, Powell, Enoch Fatade and Ike Nwaobi turned the tide of the game in favor of the Cougars 45-44. The teams would trade baskets and leads for the following 13 minutes. With the score tied at 69 and 4 minutes left in the game the Cougars Nash missed on the front end of a 1-1 free throw. The Rangers, Thomas proceeded to get to the line on a hard drive to the basket, but missed on the back end of a 1-1 to give the Rangers a slight lead at 70-69. The next possession, Fatade, attacking the paint, committed an offensive foul to give the Rangers the ball once more. On the following possession for the Rangers, Thomas drove down the lane looking for his three point shooters and found CJ Luster waiting to knock down the clutch three, pushing the lead to 4, 73-69. Despite strong efforts by the Cougars to regain the game the Rangers would end the game on a 15-2 run to cap off the win 82-71.
Key players for the Cougars Breion Powell ended the night with 24 points on 50% percent shooting and 3 for 6 from three along with 9 rebounds. Freshman Willie Williams added a double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Malik Nash did a great job facilitating the ball dishing out 8 assists on night. The Rangers' DaVeon Thomas put in a strong performance leading his team in three categories with 32 points going 12-19 from the field while adding 10 rebounds and 7 assists.
The Cougars (6-5) will face another conference opponent in the Navarro Bulldogs (8-3) in the Cougar Den at home, on Saturday, December 2nd at 2:00 PM.
(By Brandon Martinez- Men's Basketball Assistant)