SportsHigh School Sports

Actions

Streaking King aims to continue late surge into playoffs

Posted at 6:44 PM, Feb 18, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-18 20:03:03-05

The high school basketball playoffs heat up this week for both the boys and girls.

One team that has caught fire at the right time is the King boys team. And don’t even consider their 17-20 record.

The Mustangs are a great example of it’s not how good you play early, but how you are playing at the end of the season.

Just a couple of weeks ago, King was tied for sixth place in District 30-5A with a 12-20 record and were dreaming of the playoffs.

But after winning five straight, including a triumph over Calhoun Friday night, King has earned the No. 3 seed.

Now, they will hook up with a very good Flour Bluff team Tuesday night.

“At the beginning of the season, we were really not like a family, not really getting along together,” guard Isaiah Martinez said. “Now, there’s lots of positivity and we know how we have to come together as a family so we play more together as a team, not just one player shining but all shining together and that has made us come farther.”

Coach Sean Armstrong said his team’s late charge can be explained as his young team gained maturity.

“It’s just that growing process,” Armstrong said. “We are really young, we graduated eight seniors last year and seven of our top players. This year we brought just one player back with any experience.

“So we are young and kind of like we were learning. That’s why we played in that tournament early in the year, but we have come so far just because these kids trusted the process. They understand, they bought into the coaching staff and to our core values about what it takes to be a winner.”

They are certainly getting it done right now.