The Paris boys’ Christmas break was full of cheer.

Paris vs La Plata Photo Gallery

That wasn’t just because it was Christmas time and they didn’t have school, but the Coyotes defeated La Plata on Saturday at the Moberly Holiday Shootout at Moberly Area Community College. Paris outscored La Plata 35-19 in the second half to win after losing to the Bulldogs 38-33 at the shootout last season.

Head coach Jeremy Skinner said the plan defensively worked well. La Plata (3-6) led 25-23 at halftime; however, the Bulldogs went until less than two minutes left in the third quarter to convert on their first second-half field goal. 

“The full-court pressure wore them down,” Skinner said. “It’s something we’re trying. We still have to get used to slowing down when the layup isn’t there and running a good offense. In the first half, a lot of our shots were rushed as we were still going full-speed like we were on defense.”

Brad Skinner led Paris (3-7) with 13 points, Cayden Poddany followed with 12 points and two blocks, and Andre Miller had eight points, including two 3-pointers in the second half. Miller’s first 3-pointer gave the Coyotes their first second-half lead that they never lost, eventually leading 41-29 after three quarters.

Kendrick Hulett led La Plata with 19 points and seven steals, and Wyatt Hamilton followed with 14 points and 11 rebounds. The other Bulldogs had 11 points and that’s how many combined points Hulett and Hamilton had in the second half. 

“We almost got desperate (in the first half) because (Hulett) had 12 points,” Poddany said. “The whole halftime talk was don’t let (Hulett) score. We’d rather get beat by the other guys on the court than (Hulett) and (Hamilton).”

Skinner said the continuous pressure eventually slowed down La Plata, noticing that their players didn’t even hit the rim on some free-throw attempts. He said Paris had that “full-court game” that it wanted from the beginning.

“In the second and third quarter, we really got to their legs, rotating everybody through,” coach Skinner said. “Our bench was deeper than theirs. That was definitely the focus of the game to try to wear them out throughout the game.”

Poddany said he was primarily in charge of stopping Hulett, who proved early why he was a focus. Taking away the best player always affects a team.

“He didn’t have a lot of tricks so he wasn’t going to break you down,” Poddany said. “He’s good at running off screens, and he knows how to use his speed. He knew how to change his speed, and that’s really hard to guard when running off of screens. It’s a lot of mental.”

On the other hand, Poddany said Paris has so many players to take away. All 10 Coyotes who dressed for Saturday’s game scored, and the bench supplied 16 points. 

Paris owns a 3-7 record following Saturday’s victory and will play in the first round of the Salisbury Invitational tournament at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 7 against Glasgow (5-3).

“We have so much talent that our record doesn’t show it,” Poddany said. “We have five scorers who can put the ball in the hoop. That really helps us because you can’t just double team. You’ve got to guard everybody.”

Benches were a big factor in this victory, Skinner said. He wants this game to precede a better second half, similar to how Paris had a better Saturday second half.

“Hopefully, it gets us started into the second half of the year,” Skinner said. “We’re able to have a few practices in a row, so hopefully, that will get us going.”