ET Boys Basketball Notebook: Hallsville's Cole, Waskom's Haynes share Player of the Week hon
Ryan Cole provided senior leadership, and plenty of points, for the Hallsville Bobcats in a pair of wins last week. Kaleb Haynes was a clutch performer in two games for Waskom.
For their efforts, Cole and Haynes share ETvarsity.com/Best Preps Basketball Player of the Week honors for games played Jan. 18-23.
Cole opened the week by scoring 12 points and adding eight rebounds in a 67-33 win over Pine Tree, and then helped the Bobcats stretch their winning streak to five straight by scoring 18 points to go along with four rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block in a 57-38 win over Longview.
"Ryan is providing tremendous senior leadership for us that stats alone dont do justice," Hallsville coach Rusty Walker said.
Cole is averaging 13.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game for Hallsville, which improved to 16-7 overall and 5-2 in District 15-5A play with last week's victories. The Bobcats host unbeaten Marshall tonight.
Haynes opened the week by pouring in 31 points in a 91-53 win over New Diana in District 17-3A play.
On Friday, he scored 16 points in a 51-50 win at White Oak — including a game-winning three-point play with eight seconds remaining when he hit a layup, drew a foul and sank the bonus free throw.
Waskom, 3-0 in league play, will visit Sabine tonight.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Crosstown rivals Longview and Pine Tree meet at 7:30 p.m. at Pine Tree's Pirate Center in District 15-5A action tonight, while Hallsville hosts Marshall and Mount Pleasant visits Greenville.
In District 16-4A, Spring Hill visits Chapel Hill, Kilgore is at Gilmer and Gladewater visits Bullard. Tatum hosts Center and Henderson hosts Carthage in 19-4A action, and in District 17-3A it's Elysian Fields at White Oak, Waskom at Sabine and Jefferson at New Diana.
On Friday, Longview (vs. Greenville), Marshall (vs. Pine Tree), Texas High (vs. Hallsville) and Mount Pleasant (vs. Sulphur Springs) are all at home in District 15-5A play. Spring Hill hosts Gladewater and Kilgore hosts Chapel Hill in District 16-4A, and Tatum is at Rusk in District 19-4A action.
White Oak visits Jefferson, New Diana hosts Sabine and Waskom is at Elysian Fields in District 17-3A skirmishes.
TABC POLL
Marshall in Class 5A (17), Tatum in Class 4A (18), Waskom (17) and Daingerfield (24) in Class 3A and Avinger (2) in Class A are ranked area teams in this week's Texas Association of Basketball Coaches weekly poll.
Top-ranked teams for the week are Atascocita in Class 6A, Fort Bend Bush in 5A, Silsbee in 4A, Van Alstyne in 3A, Dallardsville Big Sandy in 2A and Lipan in Class A.
