Cats top Wagstaff tourney

Kyle Ford goes up for a slam in the Wagstaff tourney.

The Whitehouse Wildcats rolled to their 12th straight victory last Saturday night as they downed Jacksonville 70-45 to claim the championship of the 2007 TJC Floyd Wagstaff Tournament.

The win boosts the 8thranked Cats to 15-1 on the year.

Included in those 12 straight wins were a pair of District 12- 4A victories over Kilgore, 73-35, and a big road win at Jacksonville, 53-48.

The two wins put the Cats atop the 12-4A standings at 2-0 with Nacogdoches.

Whitehouse drew 4A power San Antonio Alamo Heights in game one of the Wagstaff Holiday classic, and defeated the visitors from the Alamo city by a 63-48 margin. Round two of the tourney pitted WHS against Bullard, who themselves were an overtime winner over Henderson, 56-51, in their first game of the tournament. The Panthers, however, were no match for the Cats, falling 65- 45 to advance Whitehouse into the finals against Jacksonville.

The game would be a rematch of the two district foes only a week after their first game in Jacksonville on Dec. 21.

Photos/Jim Jackson Triumphant team members of the Whitehouse Wildcats include Drew Flynn, Justin Keller, Tanner Fedell, Mitch Marquis, Kyle Ford, Nick Kunzman, Blake Anglin, Jacob Holmen, Bart Henderson, Quincy Aldridge, Justin Mayfield, Cade Clark, Kody Molloy, Judd Jackson, Seth Cashion and Jerone Reddick.

Jacksonville had defeated Mabank, 65-48, and Lindale, 73- 57, before playing for the tourney championship.

Whitehouse was led the entire tournament by 6'8 junior post Jacob Holmen, 5'11 junior point guard Mitch Marquis, and 6'5 senior guard Kyle Ford. The championship game was just an exclamation point on the trio's performance as Holmen tallied 24, Ford tossed in 18, and Marquis added 14.

6'6 senior forward Cade Clark appeared fully recovered from a nagging foot injury to toss in 18 against Alamo Heights, 14 against Bullard, and 8 against the Indians.

The win was the second Wagstaff tourney championship in the past four years. WHS fell in the tourney finals in 2005 and 2006

"It was the best game we have played since defeating Dallas Skyline," head coach Wally Dawkins said. "I thought we played like a championship team should play.

"We had a great crowd in a big gym against a very good team and we responded. Kody Molloy came up big on the boards and Bart Henderson, Blake Anglin, and Seth Cashion also gave us good quality minutes."

Whitehouse now hosts always tough Longview Pine Tree in Wildcat Arena on Friday, Jan. 4 and then plays Hallsville at home on Tuesday Jan. 8. The varsity games begin at 7:30 each night with JV at 6:15 and ninth grade at 5.