Deer Park’s Hot Season
The Deer Park Deer basketball team started the 2017-2018 season on Tuesday November 14th against the Clear Creek Wildcats that resulted in a victory 66-62 led by Senior Forward Tristan Ikpe with 19 points. The Deer started off 3-1 and went on a three game skid to put them with a record of 3-4. Recently though, they won 20 games in a row before losing 2 crucial district games to the Westbrook Bruins and South Houston Trojans and the their last victory being against their district rivals the Sam Rayburn Texans 60-36 with Junior Brad Milliorn leading the load with 19 points off of seven field goals made and senior Tristan Ikpe also contributed with 12 points off four field goals to extend their season to 23 victories.
“The reason why we have won so many games early on is because we have really good team chemistry and everyone has bought in to what coach is doing,” Ikpe said.
The Deer continued district play on Tuesday January 30th when they traveled to take on the struggling 4-23 (1-8 in district) Pasadena Eagles at 7:00 pm. The Deer defeated the Eagles 52-32 led by Ikpe with 16 points off 7 field goals. Ikpe is currently dominating the floor averaging 15.8 points per game and 10.2 rebounds a night. The Deer currently sit at 2nd place behind the Beaumont Westbrook Trojans with an 8-2 district record. They are ranked 75 in the state of Texas and 536 nationwide. Outscoring their district opponents with an average score of 21.1 points, the Deer put up 63.5 points a game while only giving up 42.4 points.
“We have just been working really hard and coming together. We lack size so coach draws up plays that work our way,” Senior Guard Zach Walker said.