BEAUMONT — Friday evening Ken Coleman saw improvement in his Port Arthur Memorial Titans against the Beaumont Ozen Panthers.
The Titans opened the season with an 89-65 loss to Ozen and in the Fred Williams Classic on Friday fell 64-62 to the Panthers.
Friday’s game was tied at 62-62 with seconds left on the clock when Ozen star Josh Boyd was fouled when attempting a three-point shot. Boyd sank the first two free throws with one second remaining and missed on purpose on the third to give the Panthers the victory.
The Titans are now 1-3 on the season and travel to face Fallbrook at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Ozen is 2-0 and head to the Texas High School Jamboree. The Panthers face Dallas Prime Prep at Bellaire Episcopal.
“It was a big improvement since the last time we played them,” Coleman said. “We came into the season with the phrase we are going to begin with the end in mind. We are not going to high with a win and get to low with a loss. We recognize there is a lot of work to do. Ozen is a definitely is a good judge to let you know where you stand. I was proud of our kids. They gave great effort tonight.”
Memorial trailed 39-26 at the break and stormed back into the game with a 10-0 run to start the third.
The Titans took their first lead of the game since being up 10-9 late in the first period.
Dylan Wilkerson led the charge in the third period for the Titans with five of his nine points coming right after the break.
Memorial outscored Ozen 23-8 in the frame and led 49-46 heading into the fourth. The Panthers had seven turnovers in the third period and 25 in the game.
“It was one of our best periods of the year,” Coleman added. “We challenged the guys at half. We know how hard we work every day and we wanted the kids to have the confidence to demonstrate that and that is what they did.”
The fourth period, though, belonged to Boyd and the Panthers.
Boyd scored 10 of his team-high 14 points in the final eight minutes and he finished with 11 boards.
The Titans tied the game up at 62-62 with just under a minute left on the clock when Tyran Hinton drained a three-pointer. He followed it up with a monster block up against the backboard but a Titans turnover gave the ball back to Ozen to set up Boyd’s heroics at the line.
Hinton led the Titans with 15 points. Deon Williams added seven points and six rebounds, David Torres had eight points and Tyler Guidry finished with six points and eight rebounds.