Wildcats erase an 18 point deficit to stay unbeaten in district play


Dison’s ability to get open, keyed comeback for Wildcats
In a battle of district unbeatens, Mike Dison stole a pass at midcourt, dished off to Kasey Shepherd who was fast breaking to the basket on a furious pace as he beat the buzzer with1.6 seconds left on the clock to give Dekaney a 76-74 come from behind victory over Klein Forest Friday night at DeKaney High School.  It was the first victory over the Eagles in school history.
A very determined group of Wildcats put together a work shop effort in the second half after a halftime speech with Coach Wylie.  Their efforts were credited with a much spunkier pressure defense. After being out played, out hustled, out re-bounded and out scored, Dekaney (17-4, 2-0) had a sour taste in their mouth, defending their home court. 
The Eagles were in full control of the game and did everything but win.
Pin point shooting got the Eagles off to a 21-15 first quarter lead.  Shooting star Derail Green and running mate Rafeal Farley shared most of the offensive duties firing from three point range.  Green used his 6’8” frame to shoot over the DeKaney defense while Farley worked his way around the perimeter for open shots as well as penetrating to the basket. 
First half Cold shooting paralyzed DeKaney while leaving the door open for the Golden Eagles to widen their lead. 
The second quarter took a different outlook as three year starter, Point Guard Dison kept the Eagles from falling too far behind when he begin to heat up from the outside. 
Dison led Dekaney with 37 points on 6 of 9 shooting from the floor and seven steals while Hughes chipped in 16 points.
Green and Farley opened the third quarter with a treys from the right baseline, increasing the lead 27-16.  The unthinkable happened with 5:29 to go, Green left the game with hip injury but not before he added a basket from the free throw line to put the Eagles up 29-19.  He didn’t return until 1:22 to go in the game.  Right after D’Markian Sallie shot free throws for the injured Green connecting on one of two but as the second free throw rimmed out Ra’caine Rideaux followed up with the loose board and score, 32-19 Eagles. 
“I felt like we just didn’t finish we got in foul trouble and we had some injury trouble didn’t help us.  It just didn’t happen.  Hats off to them they kept battling we jump out on them,” said Klein Forest Coach Cary Black.
Farley drilled a 3-pointer and Kaveon Hall Davis bank shot off the glass from the free throw line to give the Eagles an 18 point lead, 39-21with 2:22 to go in the half.  Soon after the Jalen Hughes and Dison responded with two steals, a couple of layups, and a trey as Dekaney trailed 39-30 at halftime. 
Green and Farley led Klein Forest with 13 points each and Dison had 12 points and four steals for the Wildcats at the intermission.
Though DeKaney trailed 39-33 just moments into the third quarter after Dison’s 3-pointer the Eagles stretch the lead back to eight with a few baskets, 45-37 with 5:25 to go in the quarter.  As the game continued, both teams traded baskets.
Hughes connected on back to back 3-pointers to get the Wildcats within five points but Klein Forest (16-9, 2-1) would answer each time the DeKaney went on a run. 
DeKaney trailed by as many as 12 points before closing out the third quarter down by seven, 59-52.
As the battle went on in the fourth quarter Hughes’s layup tied the game at 61.  Shortly after, Klein Forest pushed the lead back to six when Jr. guard Javonte Patrick scored on a running floaters through the lane, 71-67.
Farley finished with a team high 16 points.  In less than a half of play Green closed out the evening with 15 points and Patrick added 13.
DeKaney drew closer when Shepherd knocked down a trey from the left baseline closing the gap, 71-68.  Dison followed with a trey with 17 seconds to go to tying the game at 74 setting up the gaming winning basket.  Dison made his seventh steal of the night count as he dished off to Shepherd who was breaking toward the basket for the winning shot.
“We had guys that bought into our program and don’t quit.  Klein Forest is an established program and what a huge win for young program like ours to come and beat what we thought was the best team in the district.  I truly thought that.  We talked about it halftime, we were getting out played and out hustled on our floor. They were hitting shots and talked about digging down and not quit,” said DeKaney’s Coach Jeff Wylie.

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