—  Port Arthur Memorial's Josh Cormier smothered and pestered Nederland's ball handlers for all four quarters in Tuesday night's basketball matchup with the Bulldogs. Cormier made 10 steals, scored 12 points, and dished out five assists in guiding the Titans to an easy 55-36 victory.

  Along with Cormier's efforts, Earl Bray's 15 points and eight rebounds canceled out the work of Nederland post Kelvin Smith, who led the Dogs with 13 points, 10 boards and five blocks.

  Port Arthur's Mickey Woods chimed in as well. Woods dropped three 3-pointers in the first quarter to help the Titans get take a 12-11 edge after one period.

  Cormier hit back-to-back threes in part of his own 8-2 run that pushed the Titans out to a 20-15 advantage midway through the second quarter. Nederland's Zach English responded with a trey to cut the score to 20-18 but Memorial topped that with a quick, 7-0 spurt that included a dunk from Trevon Armstead and a 3-pointer from Aerian Jackson.

  Moments later, Chris Cunningham provided Nederland with its second and final 3-pointer of the contest when he netted one with 22 seconds remaining in the half, trimming the Titans lead to 27-21.

  Unfortunately for the Bulldog faithful, that was as close as their team would come. The Titans outscored Nederland 14-4 in the third frame to take full control of the contest. They took a 47-31 advantage into the fourth quarter and coasted from there.

  "I thought we played a pretty good game," said Memorial coach Terrul Henderson whose squad improves to 3-5 on the year. They will return to action Thursday at the YMBL tournament in Beaumont. "Coach (Brian) English is building a good program in Nederland and has a great team over there right now so I feel good about the things we were able to do tonight. I thought Josh did a great job providing our team with a lot of energy. He is a leader on this team and that's what we need him to be everyday."

  Brian English credited his team's struggles to the great defensive play from the Titans, who forced Nederland into 22 turnovers. Most of that number came in the woeful third quarter.

  "We have to take responsibility for some of the turnovers. We didn't take care of the ball but a lot of that has to do with Memorial. I have to give them credit," said coach English. "They are fast, very aggressive and physical. We can't simulate their speed in practice, but this is why we schedule them."

  English also attributed his Dogs awful shooting display to the Titans defense, which influenced Nederland into a 13-of-27 night in the field. In addition, his squad was just 2-of-12 from behind the arc. English suggested the poor shooting may have also been brought on from the Holiday break, as his Bulldogs have not played a game since last Tuesday when they dismantled No. 3 ranked Hardin-Jefferson for a 58-43 victory.

  The Bulldogs are now 3-1 with the loss. For their next game, they will square off with North Shore at 5 p.m. Thursday in the McDonald's Gym at Lamar University for the first round of the YMBL.

  Two positives coach English can hang his hat on is his team's rebounding and free throw shooting (7-of-8). The Bulldogs earned a 26-24 rebounding edge over the Titans. Jonathan Killian provided Nederland with eight boards and three points.

 Chris Cunningham finished with nine points and Zach English followed with seven.

 Nederland held just two leads in the contest with both coming in the first quarter. A 6-0 run midway through the opening period gave the Dogs a 6-5 advantage. Later in the quarter, two free throws from Josh Wagner along with an old-fashion 3-point play from Smith, the Bulldogs grabbed an 11-9 lead.

 But that was undone with Mickey Woods third three pointer of the period.

 Henderson attributes his team's 3-5 start to a tough schedule and the process of rebuilding from the 2010 graduating class, which decimated Memorial's roster.

  "Anytime you start a season after losing 11 varsity players and basically have two guys (Cormier and Woods) who have any varsity experience back from the last year, it's going to take some time finding your rhythm," Henderson explained. We just got our football guys in and that is going to help us out moving forward. I think that helped us out tonight. We just have to continue to work hard and continue looking for the right groups and rotations. We'll get another opportunity to do that Thursday.