Easier said that done, but Friday night he was proven right as the Wildcats surged past Copperas Cove 49-39 at Wildcat Gym.
“We’re not a team that’s going to score 60 and 70 points a night, so we sure better not let them do it,” said Thomas, whose team moved to 9-15 overall and 3-6 in District 12-5A. “We had a tough loss to Belton (on Tuesday) and I didn’t know how we would respond.”
The Wildcats responded by breaking open a tight game in the third quarter and maintaining that separation until the end. The game was tied at 20 at halftime.
Freshman Avery Polchinski nailed a pair of 3-pointers on successive trips from the same spot just left of the top of the key in the final 1:20 of the third quarter. That took the Wildcats from a nip-and-tuck affair to a 33-26 lead going into the final eight minutes. In the meantime, the Wildcat defense allowed the Bulldawgs to attempt only four field goals in the third.
“That gave us such a big lift,” said Thomas of Polchinski’s 3-pointers. “If ever this was a team victory, this was that. Everybody who got on the floor helped us.”
Temple needed it as Cove scored the first six points of the fourth quarter on buckets by Raheem Odomes and Kenneth Hagger to draw within one. D.J. Wright hit from the corner to end the Wildcats’ scoreless spell at the 4:40 mark.
The teams traded baskets, with Temple getting a transition layup from Wright and a 15-foot jumper from Eric Valdez.
It was still a 39-35 game with just more than a minute to go, but the Wildcats outscored the Bulldawgs 10-4 in the last 1:09 to seal it. Lache Seastrunk, Valdez and Wright all contributed points in the closing stretch.
“We just made some mistakes,” said Cove coach David Farber, whose team dipped to 6-21 and 1-8. “Temple was very physical on defense. They came out a little stronger than us. Our kids played hard. Temple took us out of our game by being big and physical.
“We were looking to pass too much. This is a different style of game.”
It was tied at 9 at the end of the first quarter. The Wildcats used a pair of 3s by Wright and one from Seastrunk to maintain the tie at halftime.
Wright and Seastrunk led the Wildcats with 11 points apiece, Valdez chipped in 10 and Polchinski added nine. Odomes led all scorers with 16 and Hagger added 14.
“We’re improving and we’re battling,” said Thomas, whose team travels to meet Killeen Ellison on Tuesday. “They showed a lot of character.”
