Plano East sophomore Alexander Brewington, pictured in previous action, scored 21 points in the Panthers’ 63-55 overtime win at Prosper on Tuesday, Dec. 9. Photo by Andy Redmond / C&S Media

By David Wolman

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PROSPER – The Plano East boys basketball team works on free throws for 45 minutes every day in practice.

All of that practice paid off during Tuesday’s District 6-6A opener against Prosper.

The Panthers went 9-for-10 at the free-throw line in overtime and 21-for-23 overall in a 63-55 road win over the Eagles.

“It’s been a point of emphasis since the season started,” head coach Matt Wester said. “The last time that we practiced was Wednesday, and that was about 45 minutes of free throws.”

Sophomore Alexander Brewington accounted for 13 of Plano East’s 21 made free throws and 15 of the team’s 23 attempts from the charity stripe.

Two of Brewington’s most important free throws of the evening came just 23 seconds into overtime. Brewington jumped in the air to grab an offensive rebound, was fouled on a follow-up attempt and then stepped to the foul line, where he made both free throws.

Brewington continued to attack the basket.

Less than a minute later, Plano East had a 3-on-2 fast break. Brewington dribbled to his right and made a jump shot over the arms of two Prosper defenders for a basket and a 52-48 Panthers lead.

Brewington finished with 21 points.

“Alexander has been on fire,” Wester said. “In two consecutive games, he made 10 in a row and five out of six for 15 out of 16. He did great tonight. He missed one at the end. Other than that, he’s made a lot of free throws. It’s probably an exaggeration to say that he took over in overtime, but he was big for us tonight.”

The Panthers then made it six straight points to open overtime, with a steal by junior Donavan Woods leading to a transition layup by senior Keagan Ho a 54-48 lead.

“I was proud of our guys,” Wester said. “I feel that was a game that was won a lot earlier. We were a lot better conditioned. I know that they banked in that one 3. But the reason why we were able to pull away from them was that we had fresher legs at the end.”

Prosper came out the more energized team. The Eagles took a 10-4 lead less than four minutes into the game behind hot shooting, but the Panthers regrouped behind a gritty effort near the basket by Woods. 

On a night when Plano East uncharacteristically struggled with rebounding, Woods helped the Panthers overcome those struggles while providing a scoring presence near the basket. He scored the team’s first 12 points and went to finish with 20, including two free throws after he was fouled with 3:09 left in the first quarter to level the score at 10-10.

“He probably had his best game of the year tonight,” Wester said. 

Prosper made three more 3-pointers in the second quarter, and Tyler Albert finished a layup at the buzzer for a 29-25 halftime lead for the Eagles.

“They shouldn’t have been as open as they were,” Wester said. “That was our fault.”

Plano East (11-2) clamped down on defense and held Prosper to just 26 points in the second half and overtime, with Brewington providing the finishing touches on the Panthers’ 11th win of the season.