Tuesday, the Deer Park men’s varsity basketball team dropped further in the District 22-5A standings with a 78-56 loss at South Houston High School.

The Deer are now 3-3 in district and 11-20 overall this season. Deer Park is in fourth place in the district. South Houston has moved into first place. 

“We need to work on our team defense, defensive blocking out, and preventing the dribble penetration,” said Head Coach Louie Means. 

Most of South Houston’s points were in the first and fourth quarter where they outscored the Deer. Tuesday, South Houston had three different players score 12 or more points.

“They did the same thing we did to them the first game we played them,” said Means. “They had guys scoring that we didn’t expect to score.”

The Deer Park men’s basketball team is now 3-2 in district after a 56-36 loss at Dobie Friday night.

Dobie continued to outscore Deer Park in each quarter. Despite better scoring from the Deer in the second and fourth quarters, they were unable to gain the lead.

Leading the team in scoring was Jeremy Dockan with 11 points. He also had two assists and one steal. Dennis Lawton was second in scoring for the Deer with six points. Lawton had seven rebounds. Leading the team in rebounding was Post Taylor Morris followed by Forward Austin Hughes. Morris had 10 rebounds, four points, one steal. Hughes had eight rebounds, three points, two assists.

Now half-way through district and with only two home games left, Deer Park hopes to remain in contention for a district championship.

This week the Deer play at South Houston Tuesday and Pasadena Friday. The Deer own victories over both teams this year.

Deer men’s basketball scores
Freshman Maroon 49, Dobie 48
Tyler Mathis – 14 points, Austin Layton – 12 points, Omar Reyes 11 points
Freshman Gold 51, Dobie 46
Clay Medellin – 17 points, Ismael Reyes – 13 points
 

DPHS student trainer Shelby Lee prepares an ice bag during a recent men's varsity basketball game. Lee is just one of many students assigned sports teams to assist in preventing and treating injuries. Coaches call them the unsung heroes of their programs. Photo by Brandon Hoffman.

Injuries are an inherent risk athletes take every day they practice or play. Alongside Deer Park High School student athletes is a corps of students trained to help their classmates prevent and treat injuries throughout the year. Whether it is a minor sprain to a major injury, the student trainers prove to be a vital member of the team, even if they don’t get the glory of scoring the winning points or finishing first.

“They are invaluable,” said Jim Davidson, DPISD head athletic trainer. “They do the behind-the-scenes work that keeps the teams on the field or court.”

Deer Park Junior Shelby Lee is the men’s varsity basketball trainer who became a student trainer because she likes taking care of people and being involved with sports. Lee’s favorite part of being a trainer is being involved with the teams during all the games.

Being a trainer gives students who are interested in sports medicine and physical therapy careers experience, which Lee plans to pursue. To become a student athletic trainer students must fill out an application, submit a letter stating why they would like to become a trainer, and get letters of recommendations from teachers or coaches.

Along with valuable experience that can be used towards their career path, the students receive credit for both high school physical education and health courses.

The Deer men’s basketball team could not overcome an 18-8 Sam Rayburn run in the third period and fell to the visiting Texans 54-68 at home Tuesday night. The loss is Deer Park’s first blemish on the district schedule is the team is now 3-1 in 22-5A play and 11-18 overall.

Deer park started the game against Rayburn strong, scoring 21 points in the first quarter. Rayburn outscored Deer Park in the remaining quarters and led from early in the second half.

“We didn’t shoot the ball very well,” said Head Coach Louie Means, “Rayburn shot the ball well from the middle of the second quarter through the rest of the game.”

Deer Park led by two points, 31-29, going into the second half. From then on, Rayburn controlled the game. 

Guard Robert Martinez led the team in scoring with 20 points, two rebounds, two steals and five assists. The 20 points he scored this game is almost seven points above his point-per-game average.

The Deer Park men’s basketball team improved to 3-0 in District 22-5A play with a convincing 54-35 win at Pasadena Memorial.

The Deer were in control for most of the game, holding Memorial to single-digit scoring in the first, third and fourth periods of the match up. The Deer raced out to a 17-6 lead after the first period and never looked back. Despite being outscored 18-15 in the second, the Deer allowed only 11 points the rest of the game.

The win improved Deer Park’s record to 11-17 overall in the 2011-12 campaign.

Just two games into the District 22-5A schedule, the Deer men’s basketball team already has half as many wins as it did in its 2010-11 campaign. After a 68-59 victory over Pasadena at Watkins Gym Tuesday night, the team feels like it is finally gaining precious momentum.

“I think we played with a mentality that it was us against us. We were selfish,” said guard Robert Martinez who led the Deer offensively with 22 points. “We have to play like it’s us against them and I think we are doing a better job of that. When we come together, we can play like this.”

In the “us versus them” approach, the Deer (10-17, 2-0) had to be ready for the Eagles’ shooters.

“We knew they like to shoot the ball,” said Martinez who also shot 4-of-6 from three-point land. “We had to come out strong more on defense because that’s a team that never stops. If we don’t prepare for that the way we did, this could have been a different game.”

“With Pasadena, the ball is up in the air pretty quickly, but that gives us a better chance for rebounds,” said Head Coach Louie Means. “They can burn you and they kind of did that to us tonight. We had an almost 20-point lead and they got it down to eight before we pulled away.”

The Deer men’s basketball team was anxious to get their difficult pre-district schedule behind them. In Friday’s District 22-5A opener against South Houston, they showed how ready they were to start anew in a 75-65 victory at Watkins Gym.

Taylor Morris had a double-double, leading the Deer with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Dennis Lawton put down 18 points and had five key blocks. Robert Martinez had 15 points and five assists while Jeremy Dockan had 10 points. Austin Hughes also had five assists and seven rebounds on the night.

“We had our ups and downs and sometimes our heads weren’t on straight, including me,” said Lawton. “But tonight we did a good job of coming together. We talked a lot and picked each other up. This fresh start was good for us and a win is a confidence booster for sure.”

It’s not often that a team gets to start anew. But in high school sports, the start of the district schedule signals the beginning of a new season.

That’s the mindset of the Deer men’s basketball team following its 69-50 home loss to the Northshore.

The Deer fell to 8-17 in pre-district action.

“In a way, there’s some relief because these guys know they have a chance to start fresh. It’s 0-0. Northshore was something like 19-3 coming in and now they are 0-0, just like we are,” said Head Coach Louie Means. “Everything starts over after tonight.”

Deer Park had its hands full combatting a Mustang attack that featured a strong inside game and an accurate range from outside.