Van Wade
The Orange Leader
ORANGE —
With four to five games remaining in the boys basketball regular season, the playoff pictures are starting to get pretty clear in both District 20-4A and District 21-3A.
In District 21-3A, the Silsbee Tigers (20-7, 8-0) still stand alone atop the standings after ripping last-place Buna (12-14, 0-8) 100-53 on Friday.
The second-place West Orange-Stark Mustangs (17-10, 6-2) are just a half game up on the Hardin-Jefferson Hawks (27-3, 5-2) after the Hawks slipped past the Mustangs 47-43 in Sour Lake Friday. Both are in solid positions with both the Orangefield Bobcats (14-10, 3-5) and the Hamshire-Fannett Longhorns (10-16, 3-5) back a distance and tied for fourth. The Longhorns downed the Bobcats 62-44 Friday.
The Mustangs have their bye tonight while Hardin-Jefferson ventures to Orangefield and the Bridge City Cardinals (11-14, 2-5) hosts Silsbee. Bridge City had a bye last Friday and the Cardinals defeated Buna 68-50 in their last game.
Friday’s 21-3A action will pit Orangefield at WO-S, Bridge City at Hamshire-Fannett, and Buna at Hardin-Jefferson. Silsbee will step out of 21-3A play Friday when the Tigers host Beaumont Legacy.
Future dates to look for as far as playoff seeding will occur Feb. 8 when Hardin-Jefferson takes on Silsbee and Feb. 12 when WO-S goes to Silsbee.
If H-J and WO-S win all of their games except the games with Silsbee, then the two squads will likely hook up in a second-place tiebreaker.
Both squads’ games with Silsbee were close in the first half as WO-S fell to the Tigers 79-72 while the Hawks lost 81-76.
In District 20-4A, the top three teams stand alone inn the forms of the Beaumont Central Jaguars (21-5, 8-1), the Beaumont Ozen Panthers (16-9, 8-1) and the Nederland Bulldogs (21-8, 7-2) with five games remaining on the schedule. Central rocked the Lumberton Raiders 97-40 Friday while Ozen downed the Vidor Pirates 64-54 and Nederland trampled the Livingston Lions 75-44.
Going into tonight’s action, the Port Neches-Groves Indians (10-15, 5-4) are looking to fend off Lumberton Raiders (10-20, 4-5) for the fourth-place position. The Indians squeezed past the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears 53-51 in double overtime Friday.
Tonight’s 20-4A action will pit LC-M (11-17, 2-7) at Nederland, Central at PN-G, Livingston (9-15, 2-7) at Ozen, and Vidor (5-19, 0-9) at Lumberton.
Friday’s 20-4A action includes Central at Vidor, Ozen at LC-M, Lumberton at Livingston, and PN-G at Nederland.
