Spartans Loading Up, defeat Katy, Move to 5-0 in District 19-6A

By Terry Carter

With dynamic guard play, the Seven Lakes Spartans flexed their court savvy on Tuesday against visiting Katy and handed the Tigers a 59-47 District 19-6A boys’ basketball defeat. 

Katy played well with the game’s two highest scorers, Dayvaughn Froe with 22 points and Ayden Perdue with 17, but it wasn’t enough against the balanced attack of the Spartans. 

The Tigers (12-14, 2-3) hit six 3-pointers, limited the Spartans’ post play and made scoring runs in the second and third quarters. However Seven Lakes players (26-3, 5-0) never wavered; they just shifted gears, spread the floor and shared the scoring even more. 

Spartan guards A.J. Bates with 14 points, Tahaad Davis with 13 and senior Ethan Van Horn with 10 led a balanced scoring sheet for Seven Lakes. Dylan Garcia added nine points, and post Josh Akpovwa contributed seven in the paint. Bates, a sophomore, and senior Davis controlled the tempo and drove to the basket almost at will. 

Seven Lakes head basketball coach Shannon Heston said Katy played the Spartans tough and wouldn’t concede anything, which is typical of District 19-6A’s talented group of playoff contenders. 

“Anytime you win a tough district game, it feels great. They played us hard tonight. I’m more proud than anything of how we responded to some big shots they hit and answered the bell anytime they tried to make a run,” Heston said. “We play in a really good district, and we found out last year as a district how good the Fort Bend teams are when they took all four (playoff) games from us.”

The Spartans raced to a 20-12, first-quarter advantage off the hot hand of Van Horn and two 3-point bombs from Davis. In the second period, Katy outscored Seven Lakes, 8-7, to pull within 27-20 at intermission. 

Katy head basketball coach Danny Russell said his Tigers faced a one of 19-6A’s giants on Tuesday. But he knows all the league teams are quality foes. 

“When you go up against a team of Seven Lake’s caliber, you can’t afford to make any mistakes. We made some tonight. There is a reason they have only lost three games this season…” Russell said after the game. “They have a lot of weapons, very skilled athletes and they play hard. We felt pretty good holding them to 27 in the first half.”

In the third quarter, the Tigers climbed to within 38-33 when Travis Evans, Perdue and leading scorer Froe begin connecting. But Spartans Van Horn and Bates drop a trio of 3-pointers to stretch the lead again. As Bates said after the game, Seven Lakes players complement each other well and have fun playing to each other’s strengths. 

“Our team is all about having fun and playing fundamental basketball. We have great chemistry, and everyone knows their role,” the sophomore guard said. “We work together so much, we know if he drives, someone will be open.”

The first half of district play concludes on Friday when Seven Lakes travels To Taylor (7-15, 0-3), and Katy hosts second-place Tompkins (16-8, 4-1). Also Mayde Creek (18-8, 3-2) will play at Cinco Ranch (13-14, 3-2) in a battle for a stronger hold on third place in District 19-6A. All games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Friday.