Panthers finding groove at right time.

By DeVontay Keeton| January 31, 2019

Photo by DeVontay Keeton_

The Duncanville Varsity Basketball team gathers during a timeout.

Keeton_DeVontay_BoysBasketball-2
Photo by DeVontay Keeton_
The Duncanville Varsity Basketball team gathers during a timeout.

This is the Panthers everyone expected to see.  Last off-season when Duncanville hired a new coach David Peavy, he brought his highly touted son Micah Peavy from Houston Dekaney with him.  Micah, a 6-4 junior was ratedas the 7th best player in his recruiting class of 2020 by 247sports.com.  Shortly after his arrival a top prospect in 2019 JahmiusRamsey arrived to play alongside Peavy,  giving Duncanville two of the top prospects in the state to go along with an already talented top 10 roster.  Duncanville now boasted 5 players rated in the top 100 of the state on one team.  On paper this team was setto challenge the 41-0 team from 2008.  Paired with a move to a new district with some teams that where traditionally not power houses, this team had a chance to winearly and often.

 

But things did not play out the way many thoughtthey would.  Duncanville began the season with some confusing loses to unranked teams.  The players looked sluggish, and the defense was non-existent.  Players struggled to find their roles, and the team appeared to just stand around and play hero ball on offense. You could visually see that their mentality and drive weakened by the minute. Disappointing faces plastered across the home side as if they were personally watching a funeral take place. At that point Duncanville Basketball knew there had to be a change.

 

Aftera loss against the Lancaster Tigers (81-74) the panthers came back with a 14 game winning streak putting Duncanville Basketball at #1 in the state. Our top prospects of Duncanville, J.Ramsey and M.Peavy along with others have been leading the teams in victories with 19.9 PPG for Ramsey and 15.7 for Peavy. Week after week the Panthers were averaging 73.4 PAG. This week the varsity will go against Pearce (@Pearce High School) on Friday at 7:30 pm. They are not a new face they’ve seen. They will compete again in a match similar to the last. The last time they faced off they left off in a neck and neck game of 70-68. We know they have the ticket to the first round of playoffs, but the question is, can they make it state?