WEST POINT — This time, Ecurb Forest brought a friend.
In the West Point High School boys basketball team’s first meeting against Houston on Dec. 16, Forest scored a career-high 18 points in an easy victory.
In Saturday night’s finale of the West Point Holiday Invitational, the Green Wave again won easily, this time behind Forest and guard Dason Thomas, who combined for 39 points in a 73-59 win.
“It was bound to happen at some point,” said Forest, who had 19 points. “Dason is a good scorer, and I’m a good scorer. I knew eventually we would have a game like this.”
The offensive output from Forest and Thomas helped fuel West Point, which built a 37-22 halftime lead and never faced a serious challenge en route to its fifth-straight victory. Houston couldn’t cut West Point’s lead into single digits in the second half.
Thomas, who was the quarterback on the school’s football team, had his best game since moving from the gridiron last month. He scored 18 of his 20 in the second half.
“I just kept getting open shots,” Thomas said, “and my teammates kept getting me the ball. It was that simple. In the first half, I was pressing a little bit and I couldn’t get anything to go down. But my coaches told me just to keep shooting, so I did.”
West Point used a 14-0 run late in the first quarter to build its lead. Forest had nine points in the run.
“We expect those kinds of games from both of them,” West Point coach Brad Cox said. “They are both pure shooters, and if you give them space, they can make you pay for it. They do a good job of looking for each other and creating open shots for each other.”
Thomas and Forest scored in different ways. Forest had 12 of his points in the first half, while Thomas, a 5-foot-9 point guard, had the majority of his in an incredible three-minute third-quarter run. Leading by 22 points, Thomas hit six-straight shots and scored 16 consecutive points for the Green Wave.
“I just got hot,” Thomas said. “I really can’t explain it. That’s the most I’ve ever scored in a row.”
While the duo was outstanding, it received help from forward Jaquavius Brownlee (eight points) and Kelly Martin (six).
“We are starting to come together,” Cox said. “We have so many new faces this season (that) it took a while to really become a team, but I think we’re doing that. We are finally settling into our roles.”
Caleb Morgan, who led all scorers with 24 points for Houston. Center Quon Cummings added 11.
Thomas and Forest hit four 3-pointers apiece as part of a 10-of-17 showing from behind the arc for the Green Wave.
“It was contagious,” Forest said. “Once we all saw the first one go down, it seemed like they were all going to go in. It’s fun when we get it going like that.”
West Point will next play West Lowndes at New Hope’s holiday tournament on Saturday.
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