The Nocona Indians were able to survive a game against Petrolia on Tuesday night with half of their team being suspended.
The Indians took care of the Pirates 52-31 to stay undefeated in district play and in first place.
Nocona was coming off a nice win against Olney on the scoreboard 65-40, but it proved costly. A scuffle on the court during the third quarter of that game led to consequences felt first on Tuesday and in the next few games.
Johnny Stone, a senior starting post player, was most involved and will miss the next three games. Players Karson Kleinhans, Jose Gomez and Oscar Salomon left the bench during the episode and for that were suspended one game, which was Tuesday’s game.
With only one day of practice and in a some players cases the day of the game, Nocona had to survive with moving three JV players up to varsity and one of them in the starting lineup. Landon Fatheree, Kyle Waters and Walker Murphey stepped up and combined for four points, seven rebounds and one steal.
The heavy lifting was done by the four remaining varsity players, all senior starters who had multiple years of varsity experience.
Petrolia came in with a 2-1 district record and were looking to pull the road upset with the Indians looking vulnerable. Early in the game, the Pirates were doing that.
The only baskets either team could make were 3-pointers. Nocona was having trouble driving to the basket as Petrolia’s tall post player was blocking several shots in the first quarter. Only a steal and breakaway layup from the Pirates were the only other basket scored as both team’s knocked in three 3-pointers as Petrolia led 11-9.
Nocona then stepped up its defensive intensity, denying the Pirates tall post player post up possessions, closing out better on perimeter shots and rebounding well.
This allowed the Indians to run in transition were they kept finding Javier Gaytan open on the perimeter. He made three 3-pointers in the second quarter alone and scored 11 of his team’s 17 points.
Petrolia’s only chance to score came with one free throw trip where the team missed. With Nocona outscoring the Pirates 17-0 in the second quarter, the Indians were in firm control 26-11 at halftime.
Petrolia’s offense did bounce back in the third quarter, more than doubling its first half total and finding relative success doing everything it wanted to do. Unfortunately for the Pirates, they could not stop the Indians.
Nocona made four 3-pointers as a team and even found ways to cut to the rim and score despite the size disadvantage.
The Indians outscored Petrolia 16-15 which meant they still kept a double-digit lead heading into the fourth quarter up 42-26.
Nocona’s defense came alive again in the final period as the pace slowed down. Only two baskets were given up which allowed the Indians lead to grow more as the game went along.
Nocona won 52-31.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.