SULPHUR – The Sulphur Tors didn’t want a repeat of their last game against District 3-5A rival Sam Houston. The Tors didn’t need overtime this time as the defense locked down the Broncos early and they cruised to a 79-43 win at home.

The Tors held the Broncos without a field goal in the first quarter. Sam Houston didn’t make a field goal until 37 seconds into the second quarter when Thatcher Guidroz hit a corner three, but by then the Tors were already leading by double-digits. Sulphur held the Broncos to 26.3 percent shooting in the second half.

Sulphur (23-4, 1-0) narrowly edged Sam Houston 48-42 on Jan. 17 in Moss Bluff.

“The way that we prepared over the last three days has been unmatched by any team that I’ve had at Sulphur High School so far,” Sulphur head coach Adam Coleman said. “You could see it in that first quarter, just the intensity and the urgency that they defended with, holding them to no field goals in that entire first quarter.

“I said a couple of days ago, that’s where we pride ourselves on defensively holding teams to a very low point total. That was just months worth of training and preparation that just came out on the floor tonight.”

Offensively, the Tors never slowed down as seniors Ian Malone and Carson Thibodeaux had big nights. Malone led all scorers with 27 points, while Thibodeaux got hot from the 3-point line in the second and third quarter, hitting six long-range shots. He ended the game with 20 points.

He hit a pair of threes in the final two minutes of the first half for a 34-14 halftime lead and made four more in the third quarter. He hit a trio of 3-pointers in the first two minutes of the second half.

“This was very personal to him,” Coleman said. “He has worked incredibly hard over the last several days to have himself ready to go help his team win a ball game.

“And he did just that tonight. I couldn’t be more happy for a player than I am for Carson Thibodeau tonight.”

The Tors didn’t commit a turnover in the first half and got several second-chance opportunities thanks to the rebounding of Giorgio Ingrosso. The exchange student from Italy had 15 rebounds and just missed a double-double with eight points. Sulphur outrebounded Sam Houston 39-20.

“We wanted to rebound it well, and we wanted to take care of the basketball,” Coleman said. “We wanted to value the basketball, and they did those two things.

“That’s one of the things he does well for us. He’s such a strong young man, and he has a nose for going and getting the basketball. His offensive rebounds gave us a lot of extra possessions. It’s not the big scene thing, but I’ll tell you what, he does a great job of doing the unseen things to help our team win.”

Kyren Talbot and Collin Melindy led Sam Houston (10-13, 0-1) with 12 points each.