Boys basketball: OHS pulls away to beat Permian

Odessa High point guard Travis Howard showed a lot of new things Tuesday night.

He showed his coach and team leadership skills that OHS was sorely missing.

He showed a scoring touch no one had seen.

Most of all, Howard helped show Permian the door on a two-game sweep in the season series after the senior led OHS to a 58-43 victory in the District 3-5A game at the OHS Fieldhouse.

“This is very big,” Howard said. “I wanted to be 2-0 against them in my senior season. I think this will help us keep progressing.”

The victory moves Odessa High (5-19 overall, 3-4 district) into a three-way tie with Permian (6-19, 3-4) and Abilene Cooper for third place in the district.

Howard, known more for his dribble penetration and passes to teammates, finished with a game-high 20 points, including three 3-pointers.

“I just have been practicing my shot a lot, so I came out shooting,” he said.

Howard hit two 3-pointers in the first quarter to help erase Odessa High’s early eight-point deficit. Then, he had a jumper, a steal and a layup, and a reverse layup in a three minute span to open the fourth quarter to help the Bronchos increase their advantage.

“He’s worked really hard, and he stepped up and knocked down the shots,” OHS coach James Johnson said. “He showed some leadership I haven’t seen in a while, and it is something we must have out of our seniors.”

OHS led 44-40 going into the fourth quarter, and Howard hit a jumper and Jeremy Flores made a free throw to put the Bronchos up 47-40 with 5:22 left. Then, Howard stole the ball and went the distance for the basket and a nine-point lead.

After Permian’s Greg Williams missed a pair of free throws, Howard went around two Permian defenders and scored on a reverse layup to make it 51-40 with 3:50 left.

“We played a 3-2 (zone) to contain him,” Permian coach Danny Wright said, “but we’d never seen him shoot and make shots, so we weren’t contesting them. Those were some big 3-pointers.”

Permian’s Eric Clark, who scored 25 points in the first cross-town game, was held in check as OHS utilized a box-and-one defense to hold him to eight points. He also had seven rebounds.

“Brock (Lee) and Greg (Robinson) did a heck of a job on him,” Johnson said. “We had to do a box-and-one because we respect him.”

With Clark shut down, Permian tried to do to much individually and got away from the team play that has helped them win games recently.

“About four or five guys wanted to be the guy,” Wright said. “They wanted to show off in front of their friends, and it was a selfish display.”

Javorian Guyton had nine points and seven rebounds for OHS, while Tyrone Moorer came off the bench to score seven points for Permian.