Denton - The McKinney Lions (18-2; 6-0) stepped onto the court of the Denton Guyer Wildcats campus (6-10; 1-4) and came away with their sixth straight District 5 win Friday night. The Lions routed the Wildcats on the road, 71-31 behind sophomore Ja’Kobe Walter who led all scorers with 16 points, which included two 3-pointers.

The Lions’ bench got plenty of work as the starters took a back seat throughout the game. McKinney had 12 players score, and the bench players were led by senior forward Sean Fry and his seven points. In total, the bench scoring was 29 points.

“We have a really good bench,” said Wes Watson, head coach of the Lions. “This is the best team we have had at McKinney, and we have had some good ones. Some of these [bench] players have been great all season by sacrificing and knowing their role. If you look back at any other year, these guys would be two year starters.”

McKinney is leading the district at 6-0, and a game that was lopsided allowed for more than the starters a rest. The second half gave Watson and his players a chance to work on closing out the game, but also executing on both ends of the court.

“We told the players that we would stop pressing and start working on our half-court man-to-man defense,” Watson said. “We are looking to make the playoffs and once you are there, you have opponents who can handle full-court pressure and we have to be able to mix it up. We had a chance to work on a few things and I thought we did a good job.”

The ball was spread around the starters as all five scored. Second to Walter’s 16 points, fellow sophomore Jacovey Campbell added nine points, followed by junior Alex Anamekwe eight points. Juniors Thatcher McClure scored six and Devin Vincent rounded out the starters scoring by finishing with three points of his own.

“I don’t worry about how as a team we will approach a game, and I will give this group credit. We have a competitive group and they want to set the tone early and they are strong mentally,” added Watson.

“They work together and have great chemistry. They have started a lot of games with each other and it shows by the way they share the ball and they are happy with winning ball games.”

Denton Guyer was led by junior forward Kyeron Lindsay and his 10 points. Lindsay was the only player along with Walter from McKinney to reach double-figures on the night.

What’s next…?

Tuesday night is an off day for the Lions as they wait their next District opponent, Prosper on Friday. Prosper currently sits in third place in the district standings at 3-2, and host Denton Guyer Tuesday night.

Looking ahead…

The January 22nd match up against Prosper starts the second half of district, as the state has four more weeks of regular season basketball before playoffs.

By the numbers…

In district 5-6A play, the McKinney Lions are averaging 69.8 points per game, with a margin of victory of 25 points in their six district wins. The last time the Lions lost a game was back on December 18, as they fell to non-district opponent South Grand Prairie, 67-63.