Texas High's boys were having fun Friday night at the Tiger Center.
After two disappointing setbacks in District 16-5A, the Tigers took their frustration out on Greenville to the tune of 89-57.
The Tigers (12-6, 2-2) find themselves only one game out of second place with the win. Greenville falls to 6-15 overall and 0-4 in district.
"This was a big confidence booster; we played hard and those guys weren't bad," THS coach Keith Jones said. "We just jumped on them early. Greenville led Hallsville and Marshall both by double digits before getting beat, so you can see they're not bad.
"I think we intimidated them and our press really hurt them. They had a lot of turnovers and mistakes because of our press, and we capitalized on it. I looked at the scorebook and thought everybody contributed."
Texas High's pressure forced 23 first-half turnovers and all 10 Tigers in uniform scored in the first two quarters. Four spectacular dunks, three by junior Tevailance Hunt, had Tiger supporters cheering loudly. Six-foot-6 Jordan Ray had the other dunk after grabbing a rebound. Hunt led all scorers with 21 points off the bench. Custis Crump poured in 15 points and Cole Dumm scored 14, with Caleb Wilson coming off the bench to contribute 10.
The Tigers scored the game's first six points and led by at least that margin the rest of the way. Their biggest lead came late at 34 points after a rebound and dunk by Hunt.
Early in the second quarter THS went on a 16-0 run to pull away, 40-13.
Greenville never quit playing hard, the Lions just couldn't overcome their 34 turnovers. Seven different players swished treys for the Lions, Cadamion Hale the only player in double digits with 14 points. Nakia Wilson pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
Hunt, Crump and Drumm had eight rebounds each for the Tigers, who won the battle on the glass, 35-33.
In preliminary action, Texas High won the junior varsity game, 74-48. Jacoby Johnson led the Tigers with 23 points. Jonathan Blair scored 21 and Kyle Wright added 12. Nick Mapps scored 21 for the Lions.
Greenville won the freshmen game, 76-71. Cedric Kelly led THS with 23 points. Aaron Meeks scored 19 and Dayveon Hawkins had 10. Tyrecus Davis topped the winners with 27.
Greenville 10 14 17 16 - 57
Texas High 24 26 17 22 - 89
GHS (57)-Mapps 2 0-0 5, Davis 2 0-1 5, A. Brown 3 1-3 8, Given 1 0-0 3, Wilson 1 2-2 4, Allen 2 2-2 6, Hale 6 1-2 14, Anderson 1 2-2 5, TOTALS 21 8-12 57.
THS (89)-Wilson 4 0-0 10, Stanley 1 0-0 2, Reid 1 4-4 6, Brown 1 0-0 3, Hampton 3 2-5 8, Ray 2 2-3 6, D. Brown 2 0-2 4, Drumm 7 0-0 14, Crump 6 3-4 15, Hunt 10 0-0 21, TOTALS 37 11-18 89.
3-point goals-GHS, Mapps, Davis, A. Brown, Given, T. Brown, Hale, Anderson. THS, Wilson 2, L. Brown, Hunt. Team Fouls: Greenville 16, Texas High 15. Fouled Out: GHS, Davis. Technicals: GHS, Hale.