The same brand of basketball that’s given Port Arthur Memorial 10 straight victories now truly made its mark in the second quarter at home Friday night.

Nederland had cut 5A fourth-ranked Memorial’s lead to 13-9 before the Titans’ full-court press led to points off turnovers and, during a short stretch, barely allowed Nederland to inbound the ball from behind its own goal. In a span of 2 minutes, 1 second, the Titans scored 16 unanswered points, the pivotal stretch in a 68-37 home victory.

“We wanted to put a little pressure on them and speed the game up a little,” Memorial coach Kenneth Coleman said.

The Titans (18-5, 5-0 in 22-5A) found balanced scoring with three double-digit scorers and two others nearly reaching 10 points. Nate Clover had 12 points, Thailan Wesley and Darion Chatman 11 each, Jomard Valsin nine and Jamyus Jones eight.

In all, 10 Titans entered the scoring book, an appropriate number for their winning streak. They won 14 straight until a regional quarterfinal loss to Fort Bend Marshall last season.

“We do have some good kids, and we do have a vision,” Coleman said, referring to a pursuit of the Port Arthur ISD’s first state championship in boys basketball since Lincoln won it all in 1995.

Nederland (19-9, 2-3), which had started the season 15-1 including a 12-game win string, struggled to get much offense going. The Bulldogs were only down 11-7 after one period after shooting cold from three-point range.

“That’s kind of what we live and die by this year,” Bulldogs coach Brian English said. “We don’t have a whole lot of size. We shoot it while we’ve got a chance. If we don’t shoot it well, a lot of times we’ve been in trouble.”

Then, that vaunted Memorial defense applied pressure that was too much for Nederland to bear.

“The pressure got us tonight,” English said. “We didn’t respond real well and we panicked a little bit. It’s all due to [the Titans]. They did a good job.”

The defensive plan worked for the Titans after what Coleman called a lethargic start to the game. He didn’t even want the Bulldogs to come out firing from three-point range.

“We definitely want to keep people out of the paint; that’s definitely the plan,” he said. “We don’t want to give people lanes to the basket. But then, when they kick it out to the three [point line], we want to be able to close and make it a difficult shot.”

Memorial led 32-11 at halftime, and Nederland could only pull within 37-19. The Titans’ biggest lead was 68-32 with 1:15 left.

Cade Smith knocked down three of the Bulldogs’ five treys for his team-high nine points. Hayden Hefner, Blaine Burnett and Justin Thomas followed with five points apiece.

“We’ve got to start believing and trying to play a little better basketball,” English said, adding Nederland’s field goal percentage has dropped from earlier in the season. “We haven’t been playing real well lately. The competition is a little tougher. We’ve got to figure it out and figure out ways to win.”

Memorial hosts Port Neches-Groves on Tuesday, as Nederland welcomes Livingston.

•

I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews