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Strong defensive play helped Coppell survive a brutal nondistrict schedule, and it's doing the same for the Cowboys in District 6-5A play.

Coppell (14-10 overall, 2-0 in 6-5A) sits in a tie for first place with Flower Mound Marcus after smothering Hebron, 54-40, Tuesday night, one game after holding Southlake Carroll to just 31 points in a win.

"We're pretty big, pretty strong and pretty physical," said Coppell head coach Brad Chasteen. "Sometimes it doesn't lend to very pretty basketball. We mix it up. Our base defense is man-to-man but we do a lot of things to mix it up at times."

Defense kept Coppell afloat during a nondistrict schedule elongated by a six-team 6-5A. The Cowboys average just 52.3 points against per game despite a schedule that reads like a who's who of area 5A basketball.

The Cowboys preceded district play with narrow losses to top-notch 5A teams Jesuit (54-50), DeSoto (54-50) and Cedar Hill (64-49) and a win over Tyler Lee (63-59).

"Murderer's row," Chasteen described it.

Prior to that, Coppell faced Duncanville, Plano East, Irving MacArthur and strong 4A teams The Colony and Denton Ryan.

While the team's overall record suffered as a result, Coppell hung tough with the best of the best in the area, and Chasteen believes the team will benefit when the team faces state-ranked district foes Flower Mound and Marcus and a rising Lewisville team.

"We could have done better but we competed," he said. "We have six seniors and eight lettermen. We needed signature wins, not just stay in games. That's over now though."

Garland Lakeview walks into this week ranked No. 4 in Class 5A by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches, but the Patriots are hoping just to survive the week ranked No. 1 in their district.

On Tuesday, Lakeview (20-3, 4-0) plays host to second-place Naaman Forest (18-5, 3-1) and then on Friday, the Patriots travel to co-District 10-5A leader Garland (17-5, 4-0).

"It's obviously a big week," Lakeview head coach Tony Mauldin said. "Naaman is the defending champion, and Garland is undefeated. After this week, somebody will be in first place, and somebody else won't."

Junior Todd Gotcher leads the Patriots with 19.7 points a game, but Chris Jones, Chris Copeland and Ryan Williams all average between 10 and 12 points per game. Against Naaman, Mauldin said his team must rely upon all of those scorers to push the tempo and race past the Rangers.

The Patriots have already lost to Garland on the season, falling in a non-district game at the Garland Coca-Cola Tournament on Dec. 5. However, Mauldin quickly points out that game didn't mean very much since Garland lost to Naaman in the same tournament final only to turn around and beat the Rangers in district play.

"I hate even playing our district games in the tournament," Mauldin said. "It has no bearing on what you will do in district. This is the game where it matters."

At least a share of first place in the District 11-5A boys basketball standings will be at stake when Mesquite hosts DeSoto at 7:30 tonight.

It's a rematch of last year's Class 5A Region II championship game, when DeSoto hit some late free throws for a 47-42 victory. DeSoto went on to capture the 5A state title a week later.

Mesquite coach Brian Curts won't have to remind four returning players from last year's team that a little payback is in order.

"It is a great game for the kids and the schools,'' Curts said. "It is like a playoff game before the playoffs start.''

DeSoto (23-3, 1-0 in 11-5A) is No. 10 in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches' 5A state rankings.

Mesquite (14-6, 1-0) is unranked.

Based on the pattern of last season's games, the man-to-man defense favored by both Curts and DeSoto coach Chris Dyer should produce a low-scoring game.

Between the two teams, DeSoto's Antwan Space is the only player scoring in double figures (11.1 ppg).

"Our plan always is to try to take away the strength of our opponent and expose the weaknesses,'' Curts said. "It is harder to do against a team with balanced scoring.''

Derrick Jefferson, a 6-2 senior guard, is Mesquite's leading scorer (9.8) followed by 6-0 junior guard Emmanuel Watson (8.2).

The home court meant nothing in last season's two 11-5A meetings. Mesquite won at DeSoto, 50-49 in the first encounter. DeSoto reciprocated, 56-46, at Mesquite.

Garland Lakeview, the No. 4 team in the TABC Class 5A rankings, just hopes to survive the week ranked No. 1 in their district.

On Tuesday, Lakeview (20-3, 4-0) plays host to second-place Naaman Forest (18-5, 3-1). On Friday, the Patriots travel to co-District 10-5A leader Garland (17-5, 4-0).

"It's obviously a big week," Lakeview head coach Tony Mauldin said. "Naaman is the defending champion, and Garland is undefeated. After this week, somebody will be in first place and somebody else won't."

Junior Todd Gotcher leads the Patriots with 19.7 points per game, but Chris Jones, Chris Copeland and Ryan Williams all average between 10 and 12 points. Mauldin said his team must rely upon all of those scorers to push the tempo and race past the Rangers.

The Patriots have already lost to Garland this season, falling in a nondistrict game at the Garland Coca-Cola Tournament on Dec. 5. However, Mauldin points out the game didn't mean much since Garland lost to Naaman in the same tournament final only to turn around and beat the Rangers in district play.

"I hate even playing our district games in the tournament," Mauldin said. "It has no bearing on what you will do in district. This is the game where it matters."

A. Maceo Smith (8-11, 5-2) knocked Kimball (13-7, 4-3) out of the four-way tie for second place in District 11-4A with a 42-30 victory Saturday, but Smith head coach Ira Peoples didn't so much credit the play of his girls as the absence of Kimball point guard Ish'Chet Barrett.

"Kimball lost the best point guard in the district to a knee operation," Peoples said. "She was the district MVP if you ask me. She's their leader. It's the steering wheel of a car. Without the wheel, the car won't go. It's the Lakers losing Kobe [Bryant] or the Mavs losing Dirk [Nowitzki]. It will show up immediately."

When the teams last played on Dec. 29, Barrett scored 25 points as Kimball won, 48-45. This time, A. Maceo Smith point guard Alisha White scored a game-high 17 points with no Barrett to slow her down.

With Barrett nursing her knee, Peoples like the chances of A. Maceo Smith heading to the playoffs.

"Id say the front-runners for the playoffs are the top four right now -- Carter, Seagoville, South Oak Cliff and myself," Peoples said. "There's a lot of work to be done, but we control our own destiny and feel pretty good about ourselves."

A. Maceo Smith has games remaining against the rest of the top four before ending the season against Kimball.

In 27 years of coaching, Birdville's Jeff Fitch has figured out one thing for sure: "Good players make coaches look good," he said.

Right now, Fitch thinks that's the case for the Hawks (15-7, 3-2 in District 6-4A). The team's second-leading scorer, Lane Conaway, broke his hand a few weeks ago, and Jalen Kynard had to have arthroscopic surgery -- making that two starters out for Birdville. Yet the Hawks still have gone 3-1 in their absence and are in the thick of the district race.

"This has been a good team that has worked hard," Fitch said. "Not many teams could hang in there and do as well as we've done with two starters out. That's a tribute to those guys that have stepped in."

It also hasn't hurt that senior Bryan Werner -- who holds both the school's career scoring and rebounding records -- is still going strong. He's averaging 20 points per game and has extended his game this season, too, leading the team in 3-point shooting percentage at around 45 percent.

The Hawks have a big game Tuesday night when they play at 7:30 p.m. at Brewer (13-9, 4-1). Fitch hopes Conaway and/or Kynard will be back playing with the team after a couple more weeks.

With as tight of a district as Keller Fossil Ridge is in -- six of the eight teams are tied at 3-2 in District 5-5A -- the Panthers are getting much-needed experience when it comes to closing out games.

Take last Friday's game against Northwest, one of the best teams in the district. Fossil Ridge was down 11 early, cut it to a four point game by halftime, then kept chipping away.

"Then finally we made two big free throws to tie it and got a big putback to take the lead," head coach Zack Myers said. "Then we hit a couple of 3's and held on from there."

The Panthers (12-11, 3-2) beat Northwest (13-8, 3-2), 50-46, for their eighth win in the last 10 games with Dre Anderson getting the free throws and putback and Mark Munson hitting the two 3-pointers.

"Every game we've played in the district, all five games have come down to the fourth quarter," Myers said. "We work on these situations every day in practice. It's crazy -- one of those deals where anybody can beat anybody any night."

Those fourth quarter comebacks have created a confidence in the Panthers. Myers said he sees no panic, and the team is understanding that it's execution that's the difference.

Fossil Ridge has also had success by applying pressure and wearing down opponents, something that will be key in trying to slow L.D. Bell Tuesday night (8 p.m. at L.D. Bell) since the Blue Raiders are among those teams at 3-2 in District 5-5A. Friday, Fossil Ridge hosts district rival Keller to finish out the first round of district play.

"This is a huge opportunity for us," Myers said.

For Wylie to maintain its surprising perch on top of the District 8-5A standings, it will have to do something it has never done -- beat Plano West.

The Pirates (15-7 overall, 3-1 in 8-5A) are 0-6 against the Wolves in the three years they've been in the same district, a streak they hope to break when they play at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at West.

The matchup pits Wylie's stellar guard tandem of Antwan Scott and Josh Young against West's dominant inside game, led by forwards Jackson Jeffcoat and Geoff Groselle.

"Those two are as good a pair of guards as I think there are in the area," Wylie coach David Black said.

Black tweaked his offense this year to highlight Scott and Young, the team's only returning starters. Wylie uses more dribble penetration and drive-and-kick plays this year, as opposed to the ball control offense primarily used during Black's 22 years at the school.

The changes have worked. Scott is one of the area's leading scorers at 21.7 points per game. After missing the playoffs last year, Wylie has victories against Plano, Plano East and McKinney Boyd to move into a tie for first with Dallas Jesuit, which beat Wylie, 61-45, last week.

"We're improving each game," Black said. "Our team last year peaked at the DISD Coca-Cola tournament and we teetered off from there. I think this team is peaking at the right time, and we're going to be able to keep getting better."

West's inside game will test Wylie's young post players. Freshman Jacoby Armstrong (6-5, 180) gives an undersized Wylie team some size in the paint, but he's still learning the ropes of varsity basketball.

He'll have his hands full with Jeffcoat and Groselle. Jeffcoat averages 11.6 points per game and 9.2 rebounds, and Groselle is blossoming into one of the better big men in the area.

"He's got a wing span like a condor," Black said of Groselle.

CEDAR HILL, Texas -- Irving MacArthur, No. 4 nationally in the ESPN Rise Fab 50 girls basketball rankings, saw its perfect season end Friday night.

Three-point baskets by Candice Adam and Briah Blakely (20 points) in the fourth quarter helped Cedar Hill defeat MacArthur, 64-58, in a District 7-5A game at Longhorn Gym. Diara Moore scored 18 for Cedar Hill (17-4, 5-0), which moved into first place in the 7-5A standings.

MacArthur (27-1, 5-1), No. 1 in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches state 5A rankings, got 17 and 16 points, respectively, from its talented guard duo OF senior Odyssey Sims (Baylor signee) and sophomore Alexis Jones.

Midlothian is without a superintendent of schools and a football head coach right now, but the boys basketball team can be counted among the area's pleasant surprises.

Picked fifth in a District 16-4A preseason poll, Midlothian (12-8, 4-0) is alone in first place going into tonight's road game at Waco University.

Midlothian basketball coach Glenn Hartson credits his team's defense, which is allowing a meager 39 points a game in district play.

"We play man-to-man defense and we run a little press," said Hartson, who is in his 10th season. "We don't have a lot of height, but the guys really work at it.''

Offensively, Midlothian spreads it around.

Sixth man Blaine Blackburn, a 6-1 junior guard, is Midlothian's top scorer (15.5) in district play and one of the area's top 3-point shooters. Senior post Eddie Johnson, who has committed to Baylor on a football scholarship as a wide receiver, is averaging 11.5 points. Johnson is Midlothian's tallest player at 6-3.

Other steady contributors are 5-11 Cameron Lowman and 6-1 Zach Hofstad, both senior guards.

"One or two guys come through for us every night," Hartson said.

There's a logjam in the race for the playoffs among the District 11-4A girls heading into this weekend.

Carter sits atop the district at 10-6 overall and 5-1 in 11-4A, but then four teams are right behind the Cowgirls at 4-2 in district, vying for the three playoff spots -- Kimball (13-6, 4-2), South Oak Cliff (7-10, 4-2), A. Maceo Smith (7-11, 4-2) and Seagoville (7-14, 4-2).

"There's a first time in a long time we've had so many teams at 4-2," said A. Maceo Smith head coach Ira Peoples. "It's great for competition."

With semester exams just finishing in Dallas ISD this week, none of the girls will play until Saturday, but then the cloudy playoff picture will begin to clear -- but only a little bit. A. Maceo Smith plays host to Kimball, so one of those two will drop out of the tie, but the rest of the district frontrunners play the bottom-feeders. SOC takes on North Dallas (2-20, 1-5), Seagoville faces Pinkston (2-15, 1-5) and Carter squares off against Adamson (12-7, 1-5).

Peoples knows his team needs to take care of business.

"Every game from here on out is the utmost importance," he said. "We have five teams trying to get into four spots."

Normally, Fort Worth Arlington Heights coach Gary Collier doesn't have the personnel to go 13 deep.

But that luxury this season has the Yellow Jackets sitting at 22-0.

Yep, 22-0 and really without too many close calls.

"We're playing well for the moment," Collier said. "A lot of guys are really playing hard and playing good defense."

Collier said he has 10 to 11 players that get "significant" playing time, and he often can go 13 deep. A key to that was getting his three sophomores to mature, and Collier struggled to pick out just one or two players that have really stepped up.

"I don't think anybody is averaging over 11 points per game," Collier said, touting the achievements of Willie Byrd, Colby Cox, Marquis Jackson, Chris Strong, Jordan Price and Avery Taylor. "It's been fun to be a coach and coach them because they're playing so hard."

Up next for Heights, which is 8-0 in District 7-4A, is a 6 p.m. tipoff against Fort Worth Wyatt (7-12, 4-4) at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center.

Sitting at 2-2 and in the middle of a major log jam in District 5-5A, Grapevine and coach Darryn Shearmire know that Friday's game at Euless Trinity is pretty big.

"It can put [Trinity] two games up or put us right back into one of the top spots," Shearmire said. "The district is anybody's race really."

Trinity and Northwest are tied at 3-1, while Grapevine, Colleyville Heritage, Fossil Ridge and L.D. Bell are all 2-2 going into Friday's slate of games. And the Mustangs (8-12) have already had one successful district road game, beating Northwest in Justin 39-37 on Jan. 2.

Grapevine's key this season is running a two-post set with Daniel Green, Wynston Parker and Will Stringer rotating into the two spots. Shearmire likes the balance and rebounding he's seen from his team this season.

Shearmire believes the winner of District 5-5A could have four or five district losses, so getting a win Friday (at Trinity at 8 p.m.) would go a long way for the Mustangs.

Denton High School will play its first games in the brand-new Purple Pit gymnasium when the boys and girls basketball teams host a doubleheader against Little Elm at 6 p.m. on Friday. An opening ceremony will follow the girls game.

The new gym was part of a bond package in 2007 that brought, among other things across the school district, many new athletic facilities to Denton, including a two-story field house and workout facility for the football team and a new practice field for soccer.

"It's phenomenal," said Denton boys basketball coach Harold Jackson. "We have new locker rooms and offices. The old locker rooms were like cages they created back in the 50s. It's nice to be a little more current."

But for all its new state-of-the-art facilities, Denton hasn't been able to field winning teams. None of the school's team sports qualified for the playoffs in 2008-09, and volleyball is likely to be the only one to qualify this year.
Denton's athletics never recovered from the opening of Denton Guyer in 2005. Denton ISD officials originally filled Guyer by allowing one-time transfers instead of zoning students.

That resulted in athletes flocking from an aging Denton High School with outdated facilities to Guyer, which sported brand-new facilities. Participation in athletics plummeted across the board at Denton.

In 2008-09, Guyer had all but one team sport (girls basketball) qualify for the playoffs. All of Denton Ryan's team sports qualified for the playoffs that same year.

Denton's football team exemplifies the school's struggles and the divide between it, Ryan and Guyer. Since 2007, Denton has won just two games, both against Fort Worth Western Hills.

In that same time period, Guyer blossomed into a state powerhouse, and Ryan maintained its status as one of the premiere 4A programs in the state.

Jackson said the school's student body is buzzing about its new facilities, but winning is the only thing that will boost athletic participation.

"The facilities are great, but people want to be a part of something successful," he said. "Maybe now people won't judge us on the look of the building itself now that we're all on par, but judge us on the quality of the program, which I felt was more important all along."

With a month to go before the start of girls basketball state playoffs, Mansfield Timberview is successfully dealing with high expectations.

Timberview (22-2, 6-0 in District 8-4A), which hosts Crowley at 6:30 Friday, reeled off its ninth straight victory Tuesday, 81-44, at Joshua.

Expectations are high because Timberview, No. 1 in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches 4A state rankings, returned three starters and a fourth player that saw a lot of playing time on last season's state finalist team.

"It is not an easy position when everyone expects you to make it to state,'' said Timberview coach Candi Harvey, "but the girls are handling the pressure well. The basketball IQ of this team is very high.''

Timberview uses the formula that has worked throughout Harvey's career at the high school, college and professional levels: Balanced offense and tenacious defense.

Returning starters include 5-9 guards Maegan Conwright (13.8 ppg) and Keena Mays (12.0) and 6-4 post Camille Redmon (9.5).

Alysse Barlow, a 5-4 guard, has stepped into a starting spot after contributing as a backup last season.

Concerns about the post position opposite Redmon have been eased with the play of 5-9 Cree Conner and 5-10 Jaylan Hines.

While Timberview is meeting little resistance in its quest for an 8-4A playoff berth (its smallest victory margin so far has been 19 points), a return to Austin is no sure bet.

The state's No. 2 4A team, Canyon, looms as a Region I opponent. Timberview edged Canyon, 49-47, to win the Meredith Hatch Memorial Invitational Tournament on Dec. 30. If both keep winning, they could meet again in the regional tournament.