Manvel makes it 6 in a row !

Reviews with Rob | Manvel vs Galveston Ball

Friday night hoops saw yours truly on the campus of Manvel High School as the Mavericks of Manvel 16-8 (6-2 in district) took on the Galveston Ball Tornados 15-9 (6-3 in district). Ball had already won the first meeting at home and were looking to claw their way back into the district title picture. From the beginning, you could tell that Manvel was pumped for this particular matchup. Kansas commit G Jamari McDowell was as engaged and exercised as I’ve ever witnessed live and in person. He was determined to make this a no contest by relentlessly attacking the basket and hitting multiple high degree of difficulty jump shots. McDowell ended up scoring 15 points on 5-8 shooting in the first 16 minutes of the game. Galveston Ball just couldn’t get anything started on the offensive end due to multiple live ball turnovers. A bright spot for the Tornados in the first half was ℅ 2025 W Taj Petteway. The young man attacked and made the defense focus on him even though it only led to 4 points in this particular half. Manvel would take a 33-12 lead into halftime.

Coming into the second half I wanted to see if the young Tornados would respond to adversity. They came out with fight and aggression, but shots just wouldn’t fall for them. When the defense started focusing more on McDowell, he turned himself into a facilitator and started finding unsigned senior W RJ Hurd. Hurd hit multiple perimeter jumpers, and had a couple of good drives to the basket, which resulted in him finishing this half with 10 points. Unsigned senior Rueben Doria also was a main contributor for Manvel. He took pressure off of the rest of the Mavericks with his timely shooting. Petteway would again be a presence for the Tornados. In the second half, he didn’t miss a shot from the field and would go on to be their only double digit scorer in the game. A big time drive and dunk by McDowell would seal the game for Manvel in a 64-32 win, giving them complete control over the district championship race.

Galveston Ball was led by: Taj Petteway with 14 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals

Manvel was led by: Jamari McDowell with 21 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals; RJ Hurd with 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals; Rueben Doria with 16 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist