The Odessa High boys basketball team couldn’t overcome a slow start Friday night as the Bronchos fell 60-45 to Midland High Friday night at the Odessa High Fieldhouse in the District 2-6A opener for both teams.
The Bulldogs exploded to a 23-1 lead at the end of the first quarter and while the Bronchos outscored Midland High 26-20 in the second half, it wasn’t enough to top their visitors.
“I thought we played much better in the second half,” Odessa High head coach Anthony Dees said. “I thought we got more stops. We got more rebounds. It was just a tough first half for us tonight.
“They exploited us, they were able to get transition baskets and they played well tonight.”
Odessa High (8-16, 0-1 District 2-6A) was led by Kaleb Murry who finished with a game-high 25 points. Christian Tijerina added eight for the Bronchos.
Midland High’s Rahkiem Petterson had 22 points to lead the Bulldogs while Xadrian Van Buren scored 13 and Nate Rodriguez had 11.
The Bulldogs started the night on a 12-0 run and it wasn’t until the 3:10 mark when Murry scored the first basket for Odessa High from the free throw line.
But Midland High (14-10, 1-0) kept it rolling in transition with baskets from and capped off the quarter with a layup from Petterson to give the Bulldogs a 23-1 lead after the first eight minutes.
A transition by Duce Warren resulted in a layup to make it 16-1 soon after.
“Odessa High had a lot of good defensive pressure and that led to some of our fast breaks,” Midland High head coach Shan Hooker said. “We were able to counter attack.”
Midland High scored the first four points of the second quarter before Murry scored the first field goal of the night for Odessa High at the 6:17 mark of the second quarter.
From there, the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run capped off by a 3-pointer from Rodriguez to make it 33-4 with 4:27 left in the half.
Odessa High did fight its way back before the half, closing out with a 14-2 run thanks in part to the outside shot.
Murry, Tijerina and Luis Holguin all hit 3-pointers during the last three minutes of the half to shrink the deficit down to 40-19 at the break.
The second half began on a more defensive note as Midland High and Odessa High combined for 11 points halfway through the third quarter.
The Bulldogs used a 13-5 run to take a 53-24 lead, capped by an three-point-play from Petterson with 2:03 left in the quarter.
Midland High would take a 53-27 lead into the fourth quarter before Odessa High started off on a good note with an 11-6 run to start the quarter.
A putback from Justin Ortiz would cut the deficit down to 59-42 with under two minutes remaining, but the sizable Bulldogs lead would be too much for Odessa High to overcome.
>>Follow Michael Bauer on Twitter at @OA_michaelba
