TJC'S Cade Clark, a former Whitehouse standout, hangs on the rim after dunking against Texas Wesleyan JV on Wednesday at Wagstaff Gymnasium.

By JOE BUIE
Staff Writer
Tyler Morning Telegraph

Playing against the sacrificial Rams of the Region XIV Conference, the Tyler Junior College Apaches opened their basketball season with a 109-44 victory Wednesday night at Wagstaff Gymnasium.

This marked the Texas Wesleyan junior varsity's fourth game in as many nights, and all the results were similar.

The Rams played Panola and Trinity Valley in Fort Worth on Sunday and Monday, losing 116-66 and 83-29, respectively. The Rams traveled to Corsicana on Tuesday and fell 118-36 to Navarro.

Then came the trip to Tyler and a competitive first half, despite the Apaches scoring the first 18 points of the game.

TJC (1-0) got up by 24 in the first half before Wesleyan's shooters got hot and fueled 7-0 and 6-0 runs to pull within 13. Kyle Ford, one of three former Whitehouse standouts for TJC, responded with a 3-pointer to make it 47-31 at the break.

"To their credit they hung in there," TJC head coach Mike Marquis said of the undersized Rams. "A couple of (teams) in our league beat them up pretty good, pressed them and were physical with them. I didn't feel like that was the intent of what we were trying to accomplish."

TJC's Malcolm Moore, a highly touted freshman from Iowa City, Iowa, dominated the low post as he scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half. He missed only one shot in the opening 20 minutes.

TJC's starters played more minutes in the second half when the up-tempo Apaches overwhelmed the Rams 62-13. TJC shot 53 percent (26 of 49) in the second half and limited Wesleyan to 16 percent (5 of 31).

Byron Maxson, one of five experienced sophomores, led the Apaches with 20 points off the bench. He personally outscored the Rams 12-0 in the second half during an overall 33-2 run that spanned a little more than seven minutes.

"We felt like we were in enough command of the game -- the halftime score is usually irrelevant," Marquis said. "But we felt like we could come back with our top group (to play extended minutes in the second half). That allowed most of our bench players to (re-enter) under a lot less duress."

Two more sophomores had major impacts in the win. Guard Brad Gay finished with 18 points and eight rebounds while Johnathan Edwards cleaned the glass with 14 rebounds.

The 6-6 Ford, who played 11 games for Nicholls State last season before transferring, had 17 points and eight rebounds in his TJC debut. Ford's former Whitehouse teammate, freshman Cade Clark, contributed six points and six rebounds.

The Apaches finished with 23 assists while shooting 49 percent (47 of 95) for the game. Starting point guard Mitch Marquis, from Whitehouse, had five assists. Sophomore Labree Sledge led with seven assists and sophomore RJ Samuels had four.

"We shot it pretty fast," Marquis said. "There wasn't as much ball movement as we normally have, which limited any sort of attempt at execution or any attempt to play inside-out."

-- -- --

Tyler 109,

Texas Wesleyan JV 44

TEXAS WESLEYAN JV -- Terrell Ferguson, 0; Derrick Roussell, 0; DeAndre Span, 6; Dwight Williams, 0; Ladedrick Minnifield, 2; Cameron Anderson, 12; Loic Norvanado, 3; Aldis Presley, 9; Anthony Brown, 2; Jay McDade, 3; Perry Banks Jr., 3; Damon Miller, 0; Ryan Allen, 2; Christopher McVay, 2.

FG

15-60

FT

7-8.

TYLER

-- Kyle Ford, 17; Cade Clark, 6; Mitch Marquis, 4; Brad Gay, 18; RJ Samuels, 6; Labree Sledge, 8; Jaron Nash, 5; Johnathan Edwards, 8; Byron Maxson, 20; Richard Matiashvili, 2; Kader Tapsoba, 1; Malcolm Moore, 14.

FG

47-95

FT

5-6.

THREE POINT GOALS

-- TWU: Anderson (4), Norvanado, McDade, Banks; TJC: Ford (3), Gay (3), Sledge (2), Nash, Maxson.

HALFTIME SCORE

-- Tyler 47-31.

TURNOVERS

-- TWU: 28; TJC: 20.

RECORDS

-- Tyler 1-0.

NEXT UP

-- Robert Pack Classic: Brookhaven at Tyler, 8 p.m. Friday.

ATT.

-- 535.