JJ Edwards shoots over the outstretched hands of a Newton Eagle defender. - Photo by Harold Williams

Tuesday the Kountze Lions ran their record to 22-3 with an impressive 78-50 win over the Newton Eagles.

The Lions who are currently the No. 1 ranked team in the state had little trouble picking up the win over the athletic Newton squad.

The Lions jumped ahead 23-8 in the first quarter. Their pressure defense led to turnover after turnover in the first quarter. Many of these resulted in KHS points.

Freshman Grayland Arnold was both one of the players applying the pressure and at the same time one of the players scoring big points.

He finished the game with 22 points. He made nine of 14 shots from two-point range and one of two shots from outside the circle.

He was one off one from the charity stripe.

In addition he led the team in assists with nine, had a blocked shot and had eight steals.

Donte McMahon and Justin Harper both finished in double figures with 14 and 13 points respectively.
Other Lions who scored included Jamazdon Powell four Darrion Harper three, J.J. Edwards eight, Marcus Williams with seven, Alex Orsot with one, Corey Lowe with two, Xavior Barnes with two, and Brandon Hooper with two.
McMahon had a big game with six assists and three steals. Darrion Harper had five assists and two steals.

Marcus Williams was the leader on the boards with nine rebounds. Three of these were on the offensive boards. Edwards had eight rebounds with five of these coming off the offensive boards.

Two other players, Brandon Hooper and Barnes, finished the game with three steals each.

Friday the team played Hemphill and won 112-18.

In this game the Lions were ahead 39-0 at the end of the first quarter. At that point they decided to call off the press.

Jamazdon Powell and Justin Harper led the Lions with 27 and 23 points respectively.

Harper had two- three’s and 10 points in the first quarter outburst. Powell came back to hit for eleven in the second period. The Lions led 66-7 at the half. Powell and Harper had 11 and ten points respectively in the second half.

Grayland Arnold was the floor leader with eight assists. Marcus Williams had nine rebounds and Xavier Barnes had nine steals.

Kountze finished the game with 44 rebounds and 35 assists.

At this point in the season Harper is the leading scorer on the team with an average of 18.4 per game. Williams has 198 rebounds for an average of 8.6 and Arnold is the assist leader with 117.

Defensively Corey Lowe has been a major factor. He has taken 11 of the teams 18 charges.

Coach Duane Joubert reports that “each week we are trying to see some progress. We are trying to get better each week and keep the kids focused and working.” Even though the team is ranked number 1 he says that anyone can slip up on us. Now they are attempting to play and practice hard every day.

This week, the Lions played at Deweyville on Tuesday. They will host Kirbyville on Jan 18 and will play at Woodville on Jan 22.