Tatum sweeps Broncos in opening games

FLOYD — Tatum’s annoying full-court press forced the Floyd Broncos to cough up the ball more times in 32 minutes than an average pee-wee football team does in one season.

With two more turnovers, the host Broncos would have averaged a turnover for every minute played. But 30 was enough for a quick and smooth Tatum ball club to manhandle the Broncos 68-42 on Monday night in Floyd.

“We just didn’t make good passes and didn’t take care of the ball,” Floyd coach Jeff Gillespie said. “We’re young. We got a lot of growing to do.”

The Coyotes played with a run-and-gun style that was effective in wearing down the Broncos in the second half. They looked polished on defense and used crisp passing to set up easy lay ups on fast breaks.

“That’s our style,” Tatum coach Curt Stephens said. “That’s what we do. We have enough depth ... that we can press almost every minute.”

When they weren’t turning the ball over in the second half, the Broncos were attempting to play catch up by shooting a majority of three-point shots.

When asked what he would do to correct the turnover problem by next game Gillespie said: “We’ll do a little running for turnovers.”

But even in the loss Floyd got some praise from Tatum’s coach.

“They play hard, shoot the ball very well,” Stephens said. “If you don’t close out on them right away they can shoot it.”

Jerrod Long and Manny Carrillo led the Broncos with 12 points each.

Grady Herrera led the Coyotes with 16 points, Wade Parks added 13 and Art Castro 10.

Girls

Tatum 51, Floyd 32

The Floyd Lady Broncos hung tough against Tatum’s full-court press in the first half but melted in the third quarter, when they only managed six points.

Floyd coach Sean Wooton said the young Lady Broncos got winded in the second half as their more experienced counterpart extended their lead beyond reach.

“I think (we were) tired and this was our first game,” Wooton said. “Secondly, I think (Tatum) coach (Mike) Majors does a great job of adjusting at halftime. He adjusted to a lot of our offensive sets and defensive sets. He did a great job preparing his team after halftime.”

Cindy Andrade led the Lady Broncos with 10 points, all the while with Majors telling his players in the second half to guard her tight because “she can shoot the ball out of two parks.”

Tina Burnett led the Lady Coyotes with 18 points.