Midland punches ticket to Top 28

Midland’s Colby Gantt (23) goes up for a shot over Hornbeck’s Matt Alford (10) Friday in the Rebels’ 63-46 Class B quarterfinal victory over the Hornets. Gantt and the Rebels will take on Zwolle Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in a semifinal contest at the Cajundome.

MIDLAND – The ability to put points on the board has been a strong suit for the Midland Rebels the entire 2009-10 season. But it was their aggressive style of defense that sparked the Rebels to their biggest victory in years Friday night.
The Rebels forced 28 turnovers in their Class B quarterfinal-round matchup with Hornbeck and turned a number of those into points in defeating the Hornets, 63-46, to earn their first Top 28 Tournament berth since 2004.
The Rebels, seeking their first state title since 1976, will take on Zwolle Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in a semifinal contest at the Cajundome in Lafayette.
“Their defensive pressure was tremendous,” said Hornbeck coach Charlie Alexander after the contest. “They are in great shape. I don’t think they ever let up. I think we had 13 turnovers at halftime. We average 13 a game. That was the difference in the ballgame, the defensive pressure.”
For the Rebels, it had to be. They were at a definite height disadvantage in the game with the Hornets having three players 6-foot-1 or taller.
“We knew coming in that we would have to force a lot of turnovers to win the game, especially with their (Hornbeck) height and their ability to shoot the ball,” said Midland coach Todd Briley. “We were able to force a lot of turnovers and we did a good job of fronting the post player and not giving up too many easy baskets in the paint.”
Hornbeck’s three post players - Matthew Killion, Justin Alford and Cody Wilson - combined for 36 of their team’s 46 points, but only 16 of those points were scored inside the paint.
“We normally try and get the ball inside a lot more, but we were just having such a hard time getting the ball down the floor,” said Alexander. “They force you into quick shots.”
Another big factor in the game was offensive play of senior standouts Miles Prejean and B.J. Cormier.
Prejean got the Rebels off to a quick start, scoring 13 of his game-high 27 points in the first two frames.
“We jumped on them early and we hit some tough shots,” said Briley, whose squad jumped out to a 16-4 lead four minutes into the opening quarter. “But we kept taking the tough shots. You know that’s going to cool off eventually, but we didn’t change gears like we needed to. We had a nice little lead and we had the game where we wanted it, but we just didn’t put them away.”
Hornbeck rallied to cut the lead to 16-13 at the end of the first quarter courtesy of a 3-point buzzer beater from halfcourt by Killion.
Midland responded in the second frame by outscoring Hornbeck 10-4 to take a 26-17 advantage into the break.
However, it was Cormier that was the spark when Hornbeck made a run in the second half. After trailing by as many as 12 in the first half, the Hornets cut the lead to six (28-22) with just of five minutes to play in the third quarter and they looked to have the momentum.
That’s when Cormier took over, scoring eight straight points to help lead the Rebels on a 15-6 run to end the quarter.
“We were going to Miles a lot and he was getting bumped here and there and he missed some shots he usually makes,” said Briley of Prejean, who scored just two points in the third quarter. “But B.J. really came through for us. They were really focused on stopping Miles and B.J. was able to take some of the load off of him. That was big.”
Midland outscored Hornbeck 20-18 in the fourth quarter to close out the game behind 10 points from Prejean and six from Colby Gantt.
Cormier and Gantt both scored in double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Allen Fontenot added five points and Andrew Hains rounded out the Rebels scoring with four.
“I’m just so excited for our kids,” said Briley. “They work so hard and they sacrifice a lot to play at Midland. I’m just happy for them that they are going to get to experience the Top 28.”