On the road with Texas Hoops: RJ Nembhard dominates in opening round

Keller High - TexasHoops.com analyst Blue Zertuche stopped in at the Keller ISD tournament Thursday to catch a set of four games. Birdville, Flower Mound, Euless Trinity and Keller High all advanced to the second round Friday. The big story of the day was TCU-signee R.J. Nembhard and his 32 point performance to close out the night against Irving High.

On paper, you figured that RJ Nembhard could have a big game, and he did. The 6-foot-4 guard who signed with TCU last month proved that he was going to be no competition for anyone who stepped on the court with him as he finished with 32 points. From the tip, Nembhard attacked the Irving Tigers defense and slammed it home. That one play which happened in about 10 seconds set the tone for Nembhard's game.

It came easy for Nembhard Thursday night as he shot 63% from the field and 66% from behind the arc. The future Horned Frog didn't force many perimeter shots, connecting on open looks and getting to the rim with ease. What the stats won't show are his three or four breakaway dunks.

However, the Keller Indians didn't get the game into their hands until the 3:10 mark of the third quarter after Nembhard broke the 30-30 tie with an athletic finish in the open court. From there, the Indians went on a 13-3 run that was capped by Brady Boyd and his perimeter score from the left wing. Keller continued to increase their lead and won 61-42.

Carson Hughes scored 13 for the Indians, while the Tigers' Kobe Stokes went for 15.

The Flower Mound Jaguars cruised to an easy win over the Killeen Kangaroos, 71-55 behind double-digit scoring by four of five starters for the Jaguars. Junior post/forward Colton Martin was an early spark for Flower Mound with his active play in the paint. Martin was aggressive grabbing rebounds, running the floor and getting position inside. He had a soft touch around the rim and stepped away for two three-pointers, to give him 12 points on the day. Martin exited the game early along with other starters as they had the game won.

Seniors John Scully added two three-pointers in the first-half and finished with 16 points, while Bryce Boyd chipped in 14, also connecting on two three-pointers, and Adam Dworsky tallied a game-high of 20 points.

Sophomore guard Cortez Ivie (three three-pointers) lead Killeen with 13 points and junior forward Montego Muckelvaney had 11.

After a 49 point outing against Denton Guyer Tuesday night for UTSA-signee Jhivvan Jackson, the anticipation of what he would do next was on the mind of TexasHoops.com staffer. Jackson turned out a 10 point game, going 5-for-5 from the charity stripe and nailing one three while adding a layup in limited minutes versus Fort Worth Paschal.

The Trojans didn't need a big scoring performance from Jackson as the Trojans turned a six-point first quarter deficit into a nine-point lead at half, 29-20. The lead grew to 11 at the end of the 3rd and Trinity won 65-50.

Leading the way for Trinity was Hunter Whitcher and his 14 points (two threes) and senior Josh Kashila threw in 12.

Paschal was paced by sophomore guard Billy Hill and his game-high of 17 points.

The Birdville Hawks received 20 points from senior Jalen Adams in their first-round win over the Keller Central Chargers, 49-36. The Hawks defense held the Chargers to 15 first-half points and took an eight-point lead into half-time, 23-15. During the second half, the Hawks held on to the lead and won by 13.

The Chargers relied on double-digit scoring from junior JaKobe Kirk. He scored 13.