January 12, 2007
By KEVIN HAGELAND Staff Writer / Plano Star

PLANO - Plano West (3-1) currently sits atop District 9-5A in both the boys and girls divisions.

However, the West boys are tied with two other teams, Plano East and Berkner, for district supremacy.

On the other side of the court, the reigning state champions at Plano (2-2) are running in the middle of the pack, tied with three teams as well. However, they are tied for fourth place at the moment.

While the Wolves are riding high right now, the Wildcats are only one win away from being neck-and neck with West.

So is tonight a highly anticipated game in high school basketball?

“It’s going to be a zoo in our gym on Friday night,” said Tom Inman, Plano Head coach. “It’s kind of a nutty buzz around the school. Everyone gets jacked-up for these rivalries and if you can’t get up for Plano-Plano West, then you don’t have a pulse.”

Both teams feature premier scorers in the area with senior point guard John Roberson running the point and averaging 25.4 points per game for Plano. West senior Sterling Melville is not far behind, averaging 18.0 ppg on the season.

In the paint, Melville and freshman Jackson Jeffcoat both rank in the top 20 in the metroplex in rebounds, combining for 321 rebounds on the season and averaging over eight rebounds a piece. Add in exceptional play from senior Ross Self, and the Wolves seem to have the post covered.

Plano plays solid down low with seniors Greg Harrell and Raahul Ramakrishnan, as well as 7-foot-1 Anton Korolev. Aside from setting up picks and benefiting from Roberson’s quick passes, the Wildcats add hustle on the boards on both sides of the ball and will likely set the tempo early in each half.

West might have a deeper bench, seeing as they rotate players for every situation that may arise. If needed, sophomore Mark Damiani can step in and nail a three-pointer, or junior Darrell Marshall can take a load off of senior point guard John Maxwell.

But, Plano has reliable scorers such as senior point guard Landon Skinner and junior Reggie Britton, both of whom average double-figures in scoring and can distract the defense from concentrating on Roberson.

“Teams are beginning to find out that they can’t trap us,” Inman said. “If you try to trap us, we’ll just push the ball up the court and find the open guy. If you try to run down the court and set up in a zone, we’ll just pick you apart.”

The Wildcats are seemingly the more explosive offense, ranking second in the area with 74.2 ppg.

Roberson can be impossible to guard when the Wildcats really need a bucket, and Inman likes to find out what his team is really made of by letting them play through difficult circumstances, as evidenced by the Wildcats multiple-overtime games in district play.

West is ranked No. 13 in the metroplex with 66.5 ppg, and has been holding its opponents to 61.9 ppg throughout the season.

With all of this already neatly broken down, two questions still remain.

Will West be alone at the top of District 9-5A after tonight? Or will the Wildcats begin to claw their way back into the mix with the top district teams?

“Each night, game in and game out, teams still have to deal with us no matter where we are in the rankings,” Inman said. “I don’t get nervous around big games, because big games define themselves.”

Tonight at Plano, the two teams will square off to define what a big game really is.