This week’s game against Port Neches-Groves was just a different game at first for Nederland coach Brian English.

For one thing, the Indians’ coach, Chris Smith, came from English’s own staff only a year ago.

“We both know each other pretty well, so there was familiarity there for sure offensively,” English said. “It’s different early, because going into the game you know him. He knows what we’re doing and you think you know what they’re doing, but once the game gets going, it’s just another game. You’re just trying to win, compete and have your kids play the best they can.”

Nederland came out on top, 52-46, and English said there are important things the Bulldogs learned from playing their crosstown rivals.

“It was a well fought game, very competitive, good rivalry game and great atmosphere,” he said. “I think we both got something out of it. We learned that there are certain defenses we’ve got to get better at going against.”

PNG kept high-scoring Bulldog players Hayden Hefner to 18 points and Tyler Jackson to nine. Hefner had scored 21 in the previous game against Vidor, while Jackson put up 12. At the Gulf Coast Classic at Barbers Hill, Jackson reached 29 points in the game against Channelview, and Hefner topped out at 35 points against Alief Taylor.

“They did a great job on Hayden early and contained Tyler,” English said. “That was their game plan going in and they did a good job of it. Luckily we had some role players step up and make some big plays for us. I thought Josh Seymour came in there and played well. Bryce McMorris and Cedric Pete stepped up big for us. They did really well defensively.”

English said PNG’s Khristian Curtis was especially impressive defensively. Curtis led all scorers with 20 points.

“The Curtis kid inside played really well for them,” English said. “He did a good job playing hard and containing Tyler a little bit. Their guards shot it pretty well, overall I thought the played pretty well as a team.”

One thing English believes hurt the Bulldogs Tuesday was a number of missed shots late in the game.

“We realize we need to understand what a bad shot is and what a good shot is,” he said. “Toward the end of the game, we took some good shots and we took some bad shots. We’ve got to learn from that because a bad shot is kind of like a turnover, and if we don’t take care of the ball and take bad shots ,we’re going to see one of our leads later in the season disappear because of the inability to close out a game.”

The Bulldogs will travel to Cleveland for their next 21-5A game. Cleveland won its first district game against Dayton 73-68 Tuesday and is 7-4 for the season.

“They’re going to be good,” English said. “They’re actually better than we thought they would be. They’re scrappy, and if you don’t go in and take care of business, focus on what you’re trying to do, especially offensively, it can be a long night, but hopefully our kids are getting better with each game here in district.”

Inclement weather forecast for this evening has pushed both the boys and girls varsity games up to 5:30 p.m. The junior varsity teams play at 4 p.m. and the freshmen games have been canceled. Nederland will host Cleveland’s girls teams today.