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January 13, 2010

No. 8 Navarro rips Panola, 87-52

By Todd Wills The Corsicana Daily Sun Wed Jan 13, 2010, 10:38 PM CST

Johnny Estelle substituted in one of his bench players Wednesday night with a simple message — “Go out there and play for Navarro.”

It is a coach trying to mold a championship team.

The No. 8 Runnin’ Bulldogs have proven they can win, picking up their 15th win against two losses with Wednesday’s 87-52 blasting of Panola at the Wolens Special Events Center.

They are still proving to their coach they can win as a team. The Bulldogs took a step in the right direction with their all-around strong effort against the Ponies.

“We played hard, we competed,” Estelle said. “They played together. It takes a team effort.”

Thirteen of the 14 Bulldogs that played against Panola scored. Most of Estelle’s bench players got quality minutes. Navarro’s reserves scored 46 points.

“There’s going to be a time where we need everybody,” Estelle said.

Navarro blitzed Panola in the first half. The Ponies missed their first 11 shots and only trailed 7-3. That only seemed to make the Runnin’ Bulldogs raise the level of their play.

Point guard Jantzen Carter hit a 3-pointer for a 14-6 lead. That started a 30-8 run by Navarro to end the first half.

Darian Thibodeaux hit consecutive 3-pointers for a 29-10 lead with 7:50 left in the half. Navarro got hoops from post players Keith Denson and Leon Gibson III to go up 31-12. Matt Pressey nailed a 3-pointer with 4:10 left before halftime for a 18-point lead.

Estelle turned the second half over to his bench and got quality play from freshman Greg Allen, who snapped out of a shooting slump with 12 of his game-high 16 points in the second half (Thibodeaux also had 16). Navarro had two 40-point leads at 71-31 and 73-33.

Allen also had two beautiful passes in the second half that were capped off by dunks from Gibson III, the last that gave Navarro an 81-44 lead with 2:50 left in the game.

It was the response the Runnin’ Bulldogs needed coming off Saturday’s overtime loss at Paris, 72-70.

Navarro took advantage of a Panola team that was 1-4 in the conference, jumping on the Ponies and never letting up.

No. 8 Navarro 87, Panola 52

Panola 14 38 — 52

Navarro 41 46 — 87

Panola — Ondrej Paleeek 1, Raschard Boatner 3, Thomas Orr 13, Lorenzo McCloud 8, Jerome Brown 4, Gary Cox 3, Charlton Jones 14, Gibson Chigbu 2, Terry Hines 2.

Navarro — Kenny Sharpe 4, Sam Ferguson 3, Greg Allen 16, Matt Pressey 7, Kierre Beverly 2, Darren Turpin 5, Darian Thibodeaux 16, Chase Harper 6, Jourdain Allou 7, Aaron Plunkett 3, Leon Gibson III 7, Keithtrick Denson 4.

Records — Panola 8-7, 1-5 in conference. Navarro 15-2, 5-1 in conference.

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Navarro hoops: Team game

No. 8 Navarro rips Panola, 87-52

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