Tompkins knew how important Friday nights game was.

A win and the Falcons had the chance to move into a tie for second place in district, with a chance to take sole possession of that second spot next week against Cinco Ranch.

But a loss, and the team would drop down the fourth and final playoff spot in District 19-6A, with a tough bracket to climb back to the top of the standings.

“Our mindset coming into tonight was just win,” said senior forward Jason Clark. “That’s all there was to it. We knew we had to win and that’s all we were focused on.”

Win the Falcons did, and in emphatic fashion, as they took down Mayde Creek 73-41 at the Tompkins gym, improving to 2-1 in district and moving into a tie for second place with Cinco Ranch.

“Energy is everything, so when we came out with a good start, it got everyone going,” said sophomore Luke Coughran. “We took that and carried it and everyone was feeding off it.”

Tompkins came out with strong defense in the first quarter and limited Mayde Creek to just ten points, taking a 15-10 lead. That defense ramped up even harder in the second quarter, as the Falcons only allowed six points and took off on offense, taking a 31-16 lead.

“Our goal was to not let No. 3 (Christain Jones) get good looks,” said Tompkins head coach Bobby Sanders. “He struggled to get shot off tonight, Nick Lancit was the biggest part of that and Owen Craig did a tremendous job on defense too. Both of our point guards did a great job of guarding him.”

Caughran and Clark were tied for the team lead in points as both had 14, Clark hit three 3-pointers from the corner and that shooting not only makes the defense focus on him, but opens up opportunities for others.

“It gives everyone else space,” Sanders said. “Guys like Carmelo (Yakuba) can back into the basket and others can drive because he is out there splashing threes in the corner and forcing his man to stay at home.”

Tompkins turned the game into a rout in the third quarter. The Falcons scored 21 points, while again holding Mayde Creek to six points.

“We got a lot of size and strength on this team and it disrupts teams a lot because they can’t go into the paint,” Clark said. “We have great post guys who take care of everything in the paint and then we lock up outside the three-point line.

Tompkins win sets up a matchup Tuesday with Cinco Ranch, where the winner will take sole possession of second in district.

Tompkins has had to have a number of different players step up since B.B. Knight went down with an injury, and they are finally seeing the team regain chemistry and figure out how to share the scoring load. Sanders believes the team is starting to surge at the right time.

“It took a little while, once we lost him it took a bit to figure out who would fill that spot,” Sanders said. “It wasn’t bad having everyone trying to score B.B’s points, we just were waiting to see who would step up. But Sean Dubose has helped us a lot, having Joel Oluokun back is a huge plus and then the way Jason and Luke shoot is a very nice luxury for us, to have two shooters on each side of the court is huge.”

District 19-6A

Tompkins 73, Mayde Creek 41

Points: (T) Luke Caughran 14, Jason Clark 14, Sean DuBose 8, Joel Olukan 8, Nick Lancit 6, Owen Craig 5, Carmelo Yakubu 4, Omar Elchazli 4, Greg Ilagan 3, Isaiah King 2, Tyler Smith 2; (MC) Larison Lamette 8, Julian Onezine 8, Caleb Davis 5, Jamal Chretien II 5, Jay Franklin 5, Christian Jones 2

Halftime: Tompkins 31-16; 3-Pointers: (T)  Clark 3, Caug;hren 2, Craig; (MC) Onezine, Davis, Chretien; Records: Tompkins 15-8, 2-1; Mayde Creek 18-8, 3-2