As it nears the halfway point of its season, the McKinney basketball team continued its season-long dominance Monday with an 85-76 win over Frisco on the road.

"To be able to go on the road like that and play a quality team and come out with the win, it certainly feels good," said Wes Watson, McKinney head coach. "Our effort really picked up. Our guys realized, 'Hey, this team isn't going to roll over for us.' We had to fight and we had to earn it and in the second half we started playing with that urgency."

McKinney had four different players with double-digit point totals against Frisco (7-3), with a fifth not far behind. The Lions were led by Raynell Denny's 24 points, followed by Jonathan Shannon's 20, Connor Fuentes' 14 and Remington Edwards' 12. Darrin Donaldson also contributed with eight points of his own.

"Remington hit some big shots for us in the first half," Watson said. "Raynell also continued to play at a high level for us. In addition to his 24 points, he had 20 rebounds. That was a great game for him. And [Shannon] really picked it up in the second half. His improvement was key for us."

The Lions are now 11-3 on the season with each of their three losses coming by only two points apiece. Just six points, one extra basket in each game, stands between McKinney and a perfect season.

"I was actually talking the other day to one of my assistants and he brought that up, that we should be 14-0," Watson said. "In two of those games we led with under a minute left and had the ball in our hands, we just didn't close it, didn't finish it like we needed to. You never know how things will unfold. I'm very pleased with where we are."

Although the Lions' offense would score an impressive 85 points, their seventh game of scoring 79 or more, Watson was initially disappointed by the team's first-half showing, particularly with their defensive effort.

The Lions held on to slim leads early on, including a 20-19 margin after the first quarter, which later changed to 40-36 at the half.

"I just feel, in the first half especially, that our pressure was not very good," he said. "Defensively we were a step slower than we have been. We didn't get off to a good start. That's what we pride ourselves on, our pressure defense, it leads to our offense. We just left some big holes there in the middle of the floor in the first half. We gambled a couple of times and wound up paying for it."

Even when McKinney got some separation late in the second half, Frisco came roaring back to make things interesting.

"We never could shake them, and that's to their credit," Watson said. "Even in the second half, in the fourth quarter, we finally stretched out our lead to 19 and it felt like we pretty much had it in the bag. The next thing you know it's a seven-point game as they hit several threes and got right back in it. We had to sweat it out a little bit there at the end. They made us work for it, that's for sure."

Monday's win comes on the heels of McKinney's recent second-place finish this past weekend in the Keller Tournament. McKinney began the tournament with wins against Faith Academy, Lake Dallas, and Fossil Ridge before losing 71-69 to Denton Guyer in the championship.

"We had a five-point lead in the final minute and a half," Watson said. "We had the momentum going our way, but they hit a huge three in the corner and costly turnovers and fouls down the stretch made the difference. We liked what we had developing, but Guyer held on."

After Monday's game, the Lions had played five games over the last five days, winning four of them and losing the other by only two points. While their only losses may have been few and close, Watson is still thoroughly encouraged by his team's direction as they head deeper into the 2012-2013 season.

"I feel good about where we are," Watson said. "We've lost three tough games that have allowed us to look at things we need to get better at and at the same time we've had a great deal of success, beating some great teams."

Current Rating: 0 of 0 votes!

Rate File: Select Rating: * ** *** ****

 Plano Apartments
 Plano Attorneys
 Plano Auto Dealers
 Plano Auto Parts
 Plano Auto Repair
 Plano Beauty Salons
 Plano Car Rental
 Plano Dentists
 Plano Doctors
 Plano Flowers
 Plano Hotels
 Plano Insurance
 Plano Loans
 Plano Mortgages
 Plano Movers
 Plano Pizza
 Plano Realtors
 Plano Restaurants
 Plano Storage
 Plano Tax Preparation
 Plano Travel
 Featured
 More...