With masks up, Episcopal's varsity boys basketball season has begun. The boys kicked their season off with a 66-51 win against Port Arthur Memorial.
The Hildebrand Athletic Center, home to the Episcopal Knights, allowed for both teams to be socially distanced. Both teams had hand sanitizer stands ready at all times, making for a safe playing environment.
First Quarter
The tip off went to Port Arthur Memorial, heading into their offense starting the game. Ironically, the Knights immediately took over the first quarter coming in hot with an aggressive first few minutes to start. Dasean Brodie and Gerard Edwards led the Knights in the first quarter with multiple points, with aggressive drives into the paint. Port Arthur was aggressive right back fouling left and right. The Knights didn't use that to their advantage missing various free throws. The first quarter also showed how versatile Episcopal is with their new roster with consistent subbing in and out just within the first quarter. Episcopal would lead by a score of 19-7 at the end of the first.
Second Quarter
The Titans of Port Arthur forced the Knights to shoot around the key, with their defense being on lockdown within the paint. By the second quarter, the Titans introduced a full court press to put even more pressure on Episcopal. The Knights decided they'd follow in Port Arthur's defense as they held down within the paint as well. Both the Titans and Knights however found ways to add to their score with consistent 3-pointers being made. The first half of the game would end at 34-18 Episcopal.
Third Quarter
With Episcopal getting the ball first, Port Arthur came back with a strong full court press. The pressure didn't throw off the Knights as they found ways to maneuver through and score. Even with an attempt of a hard-pressing zone defense, the Knights found ways into the paint to score. With such aggression and tenacity from the Titans, this led to a couple of injuries on their end. Luckily these injuries were minor, nothing to set back Port Arthur. This gave the Knights an opportunity to shake up Port Arthur's momentum as they begin to extend their lead making the third quarter final 58-34.
Fourth Quarter
Although being in the lead, the Knights kept pushing on with a zone defense requiring Arthur to shoot from around the key once again. Alongside this tough defense, Episcopal became scrappy collecting a few fouls throughout the final quarter. With such a strong defense, the Knights began to ignore their offense not scoring a single point even with half of the fourth quarter gone. Port Arthur took advantage of this as the Titans began catching up to the Knights. With three minutes remaining, the Titans were only 10 points behind Episcopal. Getting worried, the Knights got their footing back to put a few more points on the board. As the 45 second mark came around, some of the Titans knew the game had been over and felt it hadn't been necessary to stay on the court to finish out the game. The final score would be 66-51 Episcopal.