Reviews with Rob | Cinco Ranch vs Katy Taylor

Playoff implications were in full effect on Wednesday night in a Region III District 19 6A battle between the 3rd and 4th seeded teams. Katy Taylor came in hot, having won their last two games in district and sporting a 5-1 district record. Cinco Ranch brought a 4-2 district record into this highly contested game. Things started off a little slow between the teams as they seemed to be feeling each other out in the first half. Unsigned senior W Drew Joyce would give Cinco Ranch some good minutes. He went for 9 points on 4 for 7 shooting from the field. Unsigned senior P Harrison Moore didn’t score a lot (4 points), but absolutely controlled the middle for the Cougars. Katy Taylor came out trying to find their footing. With one of their best players, unsigned senior W Luke Robbie, saddled with foul trouble they turned to their bench for some help. ℅ 2025 W Aidean Rainey shot the ball very efficiently from the field. He was 2 for 2 from the three point line and played with a lot of energy that would keep the game close, with Cinco taking a 7 point advantage into the half at 27-20.

After half time, it became a danger zone for Katy Taylor. Cinco Ranch went up by 10 with about 5 minutes left in the third quarter. During a timeout, Coach Brayton challenged his Mustangs to play with emotions…and play with emotions they did! Over the next 2 minutes and 45 seconds the Mustangs made all of the necessary plays. A large part of this effort was led by their emotional leader, unsigned senior P Elijah Melchiorre who in one stretch scored a three, got a steal, a dunk and had the crowd going CRAZY. Katy Taylor would go on an 11-0 run. ℅ 2024 G Jabari Parker (no not THAT Jabari Parker) would be a key cause for this huge comeback. He would score 11 points, get 8 rebounds and basically make all of the hustle plays. You can’t leave out the great floor game that unsigned senior G Catch Robbie played. He finished the game with 7 assists and 1 turnover, handling Cinco Ranch’s pressure like a pro. Drew Joyce tried to put Cougars on his back, but the hill was too much to climb. In the end, Katy Taylor would hit a couple of free throws to seal the game 55-48.

Cinco Ranch was led by: Drew Joyce with 16 points, 5 rebounds; Harrison Moore with 8 points, 5 rebounds; Jake van Slyke with 7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists

Katy Taylor was led by: Jabari Parker with 15 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 blocks; Elijah Melchiorre with 14 points, 3 rebounds; Aidean Rainey with 14 points, 2 rebounds and went 4-6 from the three point line