Big Sandy combined a hot shooting night with stiff defense in a 90-25 win over Leggett Friday in Dallardsville.
The home team connected on 13 3-pointers in the rout, spreading the scoring around to all nine Wildcats. Each player scored at least two buckets, and all received plenty of time on the court. As a team, Big Sandy scored at least 17 points in every quarter.
“We really shot the ball well,” Big Sandy coach Dalton Flowers said. “What I'm most proud of is we moved it well. Passing the ball around is something we've really been working on in practice, because our first game, we didn't do that – we were all isolation basketball. Tonight and Tuesday night against Shepherd, we really moved the ball well and shared it. I have to go back and look at the film, but it feels like we had 20 assists tonight, which is a good thing.”
Big Sandy defeated Shepherd by 17 and lost at Chireno to begin the season.
“We pretty much matched our same schedule from last year and we were 18-16 last year. We were young. What I'm most excited for is that we still make some freshman mistakes, but we are sophomores now. We're led by our two seniors, and we have one senior injured right now. Hopefully, he is back in the next three or four weeks. We were about .500 (win-loss record) last year, so I hope to go well past .500 this year, but we'll see.”
Leggett had a rough night on both ends, and rebounding was a key issue.
“We didn't have anything fall,” Leggett coach Ra’Shod Jefferson said. “We've got to get in and rebound and we have to box out. We're trying to jump with them, and they overpower us with height. We have to use our body and box them out on the defensive end and offensive end. We played lazy defense, and we need to move our feet. We are reaching. If you can reach, you can move your feet to get there and cut it off. I think with them hitting a couple of threes, the guys got kind of down.”
Shudey Beene-Williams led all scores Friday with 20 points, while Colt Bullock had 15, and Jamesley Flowers and Jasper Hardy each contributed a dozen. For Leggett, Iasiah Henderson had 10 points, Eligha Sanders had seven, and Zach Huff had five.
The Pirates will look to mature a young group quickly before district play. They have one senior, one junior, two sophomores and six freshmen.
“Some of them are still trying to figure out the game,” Jefferson said. “I've been trying to schedule us to play against 2A and 3A schools to get us ready. I think when we get to district, we will be ready.”
The Wildcats have set a goal for the season, looking to capture a district title in 2025-26.
“They've put a lot of work in and it's been a process,” Flowers said. “We talked about how last year anything we played for in the postseason, we had in mind that next year was our year to go a little deeper. We just have been working on getting better every day. Our turnovers, last year we were in the twenties the first few games. We haven't had over 16 yet this year. Our district's going to be tough. Sabine Pass is bringing back two of their best players and Evadale always has tradition over there. I think that they can do it, we just have to keep working toward it.”
