BY Kevin Hageland Staff Writer - Plano Star -
Created: Tuesday, January 6, 2009 10:02 PM CST

PLANO - The last time Plano Senior took the court the Wildcats used a dominating second quarter to take control of their game against Wylie.

Four days later Plano was on the flip side of a dominating second quarter as West outscored the Wildcats, 27-11, Tuesday night en route to a 79-60 victory.

“The second quarter was definitely the turning point,” said Phil Parlin, Plano head coach. “West’s athleticism really took us out of what we wanted to do.”

West opened the second quarter trailing 20-16 as Plano held the advantage for the entirety of the first eight minutes. That control quickly came to an end as the Wolves got the first two points of the quarter and took their first lead of the night when senior Mark Damiani, who had 12 points, buried a three-pointer.

That advantage was fleeting though as Plano junior Zach Robles, who had 13 points and five rebounds, came down to the other end of the court and buried a trifecta of his own to put the Wildcats back in front, 23-21. The quick scoring was indicative of a first half that was conducted at a frenetic pace.

“We want to come out and run, it’s how we play,” Parlin said. “We were into it early, but made some careless turnovers that really fueled their run. You can’t do that against a team like West.”

The tempo changed somewhat in the second quarter as Plano’s zone defense slowed the game but not West’s offensive effectiveness. After Robles' three and another Wildcats field goal, the Wolves closed the half on a 22-6 run.

The spurt was set up largely by West’s defense as steals by Damiani, senior Jimmie Jones and juniors Bakari Turner and Jackson Jeffcoat all led to easy points for the Wolves on the other end. The latter three players all reached double figures with 10, 13 and 12 points, respectively. Jeffcoat also had five rebounds.

“We came out in the second quarter knowing we had to pick up our defense,” Jeffcoat said.

One particularly noteworthy play occurred midway through the second quarter when Jeffcoat made a steal, then junior Mike Jahnner made a save on a miscalculated pass to lead to a bucket by senior Jeffrey Bates, who had a team-high 14 points. Turner would make a pair of free throws on the next trip down the court to complete a 10-0 West run and put the Wolves in front, 31-25. That advantage would inflate to 43-31 at the break.

“We figured Plano would get out to a good start after the big win they had against Wylie,” said Anthony Morgan, West head coach. “But we tightened our defense in the second quarter and really wore them down.”

This was in stark contrast to a first quarter in which Plano more than held its own while running with West. Robles, who had 13 points, made a steal and went coast-to-coast and senior Rex Burkhead buried a three-pointer as the Wildcats led by as many as six points in the opening frame. Those were Burkhead’s only points in the first half as Plano’s usual lead scorer was blanketed on defense by Damiani.

“This is a rivalry game so we knew Plano would come out with a lot of energy,” Damiani said. “But we got a lot of buckets off steals and that really energized us to play even better defense.”

Burkhead heated up in the third quarter, he would eventually score a game-high 17 points, but that wouldn’t be enough to close Plano’s deficit as the Wildcats settled for more and more outside shots. Jeffcoat made a rebound and thunderous jam early in the third quarter which brought the West fans to their feet and forced a Wildcat’s timeout.

Jeffcoat would end the quarter in similar fashion as he made a steal, looked back to make sure no one was trailing him and dunked the ball with authority to get half of the jam-packed West gym on its feet and give the Wolves a 61-42 lead. The score remained the same heading into the fourth.

“Anytime you can get a dunk like that it’s definitely an adrenaline rush,” Jeffcoat said.

The Wolves got their lead above 20 points by scoring the first basket of the last quarter, but the Wildcats weren’t going away quietly as Plano reeled off eight straight points to pull within 63-50 and force the first West timeout of the evening with 5:21 left in the game.

“They scored eight points in a row and coach told us not to get content,” Damiani said. “We can’t make those types of mistakes and we stepped it up from there.”

The backbreaker for Plano came with 3:39 remaining when Bates missed both his free throws, but grabbed the rebound on the second miss, got fouled again and converted his next two from the charity stripe to make it 67-50.

The bigs got in on the action too as West senior Mike Groselle scored 11 points and Plano junior David Thompson countered with eight.

West closed the evening with a 79-60 victory.

“There is a reason West is 18-2 and one of the top 10 teams in the state,” Parlin said.