HIGH SCHOOL BOYS Rogers cools off Sherman’s fast start

— The first basket by Sherman, Texas, on Saturday night will surely make the Bearcats’ year-end highlight film.

Senior Cameron Clark soared along the baseline for a dunk off a missed threepointer by Trey Jones 24 seconds into the game that awed the crowd in King Arena.

The rest of the highlights belonged to the Rogers Mounties.

Rogers senior Wyatt Hively hit four three-pointers and finished with 21 points and sophomore Josh Anderson added 19 points as theMounties pulled away early for a 56-35 victory.

Rogers took a 47-19 lead to the final period and flirted with putting the 30-point mercy rule into effect, but the Bearcats scored 16 points over the final eight minutes.

Rogers hit 8 of 15 threepoint attempts while Sherman managed to make just 4 of 22 three-pointers. Anderson had 3 three-pointers for Rogers.

Ro ge rs Coa c h M a r ty Barnes said Sherman’s first basket was an eye-opener. Clark has signed with Oklahoma but finished with just nine points.

“I’ll be honest with you, that first dunk off the rebound caught me off guard,” Barnes said. “That first possession put us back on ourheels, but we have a variety of people that can score some points.

“I think we are getting in more of a comfort zone [shooting the basketball].”

Rogers was a sizzling 7 of 11 from three-point range in the first half, and all seven of the Mounties’ second-period attempts were from threepoint range. They made four threes while building a 38-12 lead going into halftime.

Sherman struggled from three-point range. The Bearcats missed all six attempts from behind the arc in the first period as Rogers raced to a 17-6 lead. Sherman made just 1 of 7 three-point attempts in the second period and were just 5 of 24 from the field in the first half.

Sherman Coach Jeff McCullough said the Bearcats had trouble handling the different Rogers defenses. Sherman turned the ball over 20 times.

“We are not going to play anybody that sound defensively,” McCullough said. “We didn’t get any easy looks. I thought we played pretty well defensively, but Rogers shot the ball extremely well.”

Greg Jackson led Sherman with 12 points.

Rogers returns to action Dec. 28 when its faces Salem, Mo., in the first round of the 2009 US Bank/Rolla High School Holiday Invitational Tournament in Rolla, Mo.

SHERMAN (35) Jackson 12, Clark 9, Hayden 6, Dorsey 3, Counts 2, Hightower 1, Leslie 1, Mason 1.

ROGERS (56) Hively 21, Anderson 19, Parker 8, Kaza 8.

Sherman ..............6 6 7 16 - 35 Rogers................. 17 21 9 9 - 56

Sports, Pages 35 on 12/20/2009

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