BY Matt Welch Staff Writer -
Published: Friday, November 27, 2009 5:52 PM CST

LUCAS - In the end, size prevailed over scrappiness at Lovejoy High School on Friday afternoon.

Weathering an early 10-point hole out of the gates in the opening round of the Avery Air Invitational, the big bodies of the Plano Senior boys basketball team overcame a four-point effort in the first quarter to down tournament host Lovejoy, 59-45.

“You’ve got to give [Lovejoy] credit,” said Phil Parlin, Plano head coach. “They came out shooting the ball incredible and got us down 12-2. You’ve got to expect that, because this is a big deal for them.

“We had our hands full, for sure.”

The first quarter was simply a case of one team getting its looks to fall and the other team enduring the polar opposite. Inside or outside, the Wildcats were held scoreless for the first four minutes of play, hampered by the hard-nosed Leopard defense early on.

Paced by the backcourt of senior guard Kaleb Culbertson and junior wing Nick Victor, Lovejoy stormed out to a 10-0 margin early on.

“Our kids have played (Class) 5A competition over the summer,” said Kyle Herrema, Lovejoy head coach. “…So they’re not afraid. They’ve been preparing for this for a year now.”

Culbertson and Victor totaled 13 and 16 points, respectively, putting the Wildcats on their heels in the opening quarter. The early drought prompted Parlin to pull his entire starting five; a move that he attributed to needing a spark.

That role would be filled by sophomore forward Dwayne Hicks, who chipped in seven points and 13 rebounds off the bench.

“Dwayne’s real athletic,” Parlin said. “…We had high expectations for him coming in and he does a great job on the backboards for us. I’m proud of him.”

Hicks was a prominent piece in a Wildcat inside game that whittled the early deficit into an eventual 22-21 halftime lead.

“I think that’s one of the first times we’ve taken advantage of our size,” Parlin said, “But we’ve played some big teams in our first three games. I also think our depth wore them down too.”

That’s not to say Lovejoy didn’t have it’s opportunities to combat the size discrepancy, with Herrema citing simple fundamentals as a shortcoming.

“[Plano] may be bigger than us,” he said, “but unofficially, we had 21 missed block outs. If they’ve got bigger size than we do and we don’t block out, we’re going to have some problems. Our lack of blocking out probably hurt us more than anything else.”

The potent paint tandem of Hicks, sophomore forward Xavier Halbert and junior forward Rashad Smith paved the way in the second half, where the Wildcats outscored Lovejoy, 37-23. Held scoreless in the first quarter, Smith chipped in eight points in the second quarter alone and finished with a team-high 12.

“We’re looking for that second consistent scorer,” Parlin said. “We don’t have that right now, but it’ll come. If it’s a new guy every night, I’m fine with that too.”

Fortunately for the Wildcats, 38 points from the bench weathered any deficiencies the starting lineup had in scoring. Countering a Leopard bench that failed to muster a single point, Herrema said the lack of offensive depth took it’s toll.

“When we subbed a bit, we had problems putting the ball in the hole,” he said. “Some guys had some off nights shooting, but I am kind of excited about the guys who did step up. I thought Nick Victor had a great game.”

With both schools enduring a gauntlet to open the season thus far, the Leopards drop to 2-2 on the season, with the Wildcats securing their first win at 1-3.

“We’re trying to play a 4A or 5A schedule,” Herrema said, “so we can prepare ourselves for district play and hopefully a deep run in the playoffs.”