High School Basketball

Paetow starts second half of district with big win over Jordan

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 1/19/23

“We knew we could compete against these guys and we proved it,” said senior wing Jared DeFrance. “We’re growing as a team, learning to trust each other more and battling. Yeah we were down at half, but nobody hung their heads, we knew we could get back into it and win it.”

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High School Basketball

Paetow starts second half of district with big win over Jordan

Posted

Mike Niemi has told his Paetow team for the past few weeks that they have to believe.

Niemi preached that they had to believe in themselves, believe in their abilities and believe that they could beat the top teams in District 19-6A.

It’s been a process for Paetow, they had to replace virtually all of their production from last season’s team that won a district title and reached the Class 5A regional semifinals.

The Panthers started district slow, but Niemi always believed they would improve and be able to compete against anyone, and the performance that he was waiting for came on Wednesday, as the Panthers made a big comeback to beat Jordan, who sat second overall in district 55-54 in what was a hugely important game for Paetow.

“This is a good team, we’re just hiding behind a bad record,” Niemi said. “We have to believe that and we have to believe that we can compete with and beat these good teams in the district. When we do that then this group can do things, they’re scrappy, they can fight back into this thing. But we have to do it one game at a time and one day at a time. But once we believe in ourselves this is a different team, and I think this game is going to start building that belief even more.”

The Panthers win was a hard fought one, and it didn’t start out the way that they wanted, Jordan jumped out to a lead and controlled things early, leading 15-8 after the first quarter and carrying a 30-21 lead in the locker room as Paetow struggled on the boards and with turnovers in the first half.

But things changed for the Panthers as soon as they came out in the second half, as they were reinvigorated and got back in the game quickly, and even took the lead for a short amount of time in the third quarter.

“We knew we could compete against these guys and we proved it,” said senior wing Jared DeFrance. “We’re growing as a team, learning to trust each other more and battling. Yeah we were down at half, but nobody hung their heads, we knew we could get back into it and win it.”

The Panthers went into the fourth down two points and it was evenly matched throughout the final quarter, with Paetow and Jordan trading baskets and fighting back and forth.

It came down to the final seconds Jordan took the lead with under 30 seconds left on a pair of free throws, but Paetow came down the floor and got the win on a tip in from Ikemba Otuonye, who got an offensive rebound in the waning seconds and scored.

“It was just an amazing feeling,” Otuonye said. “I was struggling all game, but my teammates and my coaches believed in me, they told me to keep pushing and keep crashing the boards. To get that score, I’m just glad I was able to help my team at the end of the game.”

Paetow’s success came from their selflessness with the basketball on the offensive end, they made the extra passes down the stretch and it made the difference. Niemi hopes that it is something they can carry over as the Panthers look to battle their way back into the playoff hunt.

“It makes me so happy the way we finished that game,” Niemi said. “All year we’ve preached being unselfish and when we’ve lost close games it’s had a lot to do with not making those extra passes. Tonight we did a really good job of moving the ball, finding our teammates and making the extra pass. That was huge for us tonight and a step in the right direction. That’s how we have to keep playing.”

District 19-6A

Paetow 55, Jordan 54

Points: (P) Ikemba Otuonye 15, Princeton Layton 10, Miguel Diwaku 6, Julian Onezine 6, Ade Onaleye 6, Jared DeFrance 6, Isaiah Roberts 4, Tyler Gaines 2; (J) Trevor Martz 16, Misaias Herrera 10, Jaden Holt 9, Elijah Black 7, Jude Uluokun 6, Tyler France 3, Quinn Ford 2;

Halftime: Jordan 30-21; 3-Pointers: (P) Onezine 2, Otuonye, DeFrance; (J) Herrera 3, Martz; Records: Paetow: 9-14, 4-5; Jordan: 20-6, 7-2;

Katy ISD, Jordan, Paetow, sports, basketball, District 19-6A