EDINBURG — The RGV Vipers have shown at times in the early part of the season that they can win, even if their 3-point shooting was off.
Friday, however, it was horrid. But, they won again.
The Vipers took an 87-82 lead early during the fourth quarter behind a Josh Cristopher three-point play and a thunderous dunk from Mfiondu Kabengele en route to a gritty 112-105 win over Birmingham at Bert Ogden Arena.
The win improved the Vipers to 7-0 on the season, while Birmingham fell to 2-3. The teams will meet again at 6 p.m. Sunday, also at Bert Ogden Arena.
Kabengele, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound center from Florida State added a huge fast break layup with less than three minutes remaining, giving the Vipers a 104-98 advantage. Christopher followed on the next possession, driving yet again for a 106-98 advantage.
Kabengele has become a dominant force for the Vipers and played a monstrous part during the hard-fought win. His offensive rebound with 1:02 remaining and following following free throw gave RGV a 107-100 lead and virtually sealed the win.
The Vipers came into the game averaging 122 points per contest, many of those points coming from prolific 3-point shooting. That wasn’t the case Friday as the Vipers missed the long ball in bunches. However, they adjusted and attacked the basket most of the fourth quarter. Kabengele, Christopher and Tyler Bey all playing big down the stretch. In fact, every Vipers player who touched the ball made a beeline to the basket at every opportunity and it was Kabengele who hit a long range 3 as the Vipers slowly extended their lead in the fourth.
The Vipers connected on a season-low six 3-pointers and shot just 18.8% from beyond the arc. The team’s leading scorer, Trevelin Queen, was 0-for-8 from long distance and finished with nine points.
Vipers head coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah, however, has been talking since before the season began that his team had plenty of versatility among it despite a seeming lack of height with the tallest player at 6-feet-9. The Vipers showed that versatility often throughout Friday’s game, mixing up the lineup on several occasions. Players like Tyler Bey and Anthony Lamb could be seen at times playing the 3, 4 or 5 spots.
“Guys are adjusting and adapting and are able to pick up,” Abdelfattah said. “I felt at times it was more important to have ball handlers on the floor.”
Bey came off the bench and sparked the Vipers, scoring a career-high 15 points and shooting 5-for-7 from the field. Cristopher scored a team-high 29 points while Kabengele had 26 points, 16 rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks.
“He’s a force in there, no doubt,” Abdelfattah said. “We let out missed shots affect our energy on both ends to the floor. We weren’t crashing as well. When the shots started going down, everybody started crashing.
“Bey was huge for us today,” Abdelfattah said. “He was the biggest key tonight. His versatility was huge on both ends of the floor and he had a key putback late in the fourth.”
The Vipers didn’t score for the first five minutes of the game and had only 21 points after the first quarter. By halftime, they held a 53-50 advantage.
They also out rebounded their opponent for the seventh straight game, 55-45, despite trailing 14-8 in that category after the first quarter.
