Basketball: The Woodlands tops Australian team

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – The Woodlands High School boys’ basketball team needed a game during their District 14-5A bye. So Highlanders coach Dale Reed went to the internet for the answer.

A traveling team from Australia, team NPIRE, accepted the challenge and the two teams met on Monday. And although it wasn’t a beat down on the order of the BCS National Championship Game later that night, the Highlanders were able to pull away late for a 68-44 victory.

The Woodlands (19-5, 3-0) jumped out to leads of 22-11 and 34-23 after the first two quarters. Timi Adeleye, Xavier Valdes and Garret Colonna scored the first points of the game to give the Highlanders a quick 7-0 lead and they never looked back.

Colonna finished with 11 points while Adeleye and Valdes contributed with 10 points each.

The Highlanders extended the margin to 46-31 after three quarters and rolled to a 22-13 advantage over the final eight minutes.

Tuesday action in District 14-5A includes Oak Ridge (0-2) hosting Conroe (1-2) and College Park (1-1) entertaining A&M Consolidated (1-2). Both games are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m.