Beeville, TX-  The Coastal Bend Cougars (9-6) hosted Saturday afternoon's game against the Panola Ponies (12-3). The Cougars entered the contest winners of 4 of the last 5 games, while the Ponies were 3-2 over the same time span.

In the highly anticipated matchup, the Cougars opened up the game on fire, defensively. Creating havoc in the front court against the Ponies, Coastal Bend jumped to a large lead early 14-6 as Sophomore Breion Powell's put back dunk put an exclamation point on how the game was going to go.

The Cougars dictated the flow of the game for the entire first half matching the Ponies rally's with rally's of their own. By the five minute mark, little was done to recover what the hungry Cougars had initiated as they maintained the lead, 26-18. Sophomore guard Malik Nash pushed the lead to 10 with a beautiful and one finish to cap off a run of stops by the Cougars' stifling defense. The home team would take the 10 point lead into the half against the top rated Panola defense, 34-24.

Responding to their coach's call for more energy, the Ponies opened up the second half with more intensity and urgency. The Cougars countered as Freshman Ike Nwaobi relentlessly attacked the glass with putbacks and a smooth euro to push the lead to 13, 42-29.

Panola would try and string together stops but each time the Cougars charged back with similar runs of their own. By the seven minute mark the Cougars held a favorable advantage 52-37 capped off by a spectacular pass from Freshman Peter McKey to Nash for an easy layup as the Ponies called a timeout to subdue the momentum.

After the stoppage the Ponies would respond with a string of stops and scores to cut the lead in half by the 3:30 mark, 55-47. The Ponies would chisel the lead down late, including a 5 point possession but the clock would expire with the Cougars victorious, 61-60.

Key players of the game: Malik Nash led all scorers with 17 points. Willie Williams added 14 while grabbing 8 rebounds and Ike Nwaobi chipped in with 10 points and 6 critical boards. The Ponies were led by Marcus Greene and Yaphet Moundi with 15 and 13 respectively.

The win improves the Cougars record to 10-6, 4-2 in conference play. They will travel next week to Tyler on Wednesday and Blinn on Saturday. The loss drops the Ponies to 12-4, 4-2 in conference play.

(by Brandon Martinez Men's Basketball Assistant)