The Connally High basketball team picked up its first win of the summer, besting St. Stephens 59-43 Tuesday night.

The Cougar Black team was led by Tony Standberry who dropped 17 points on the Spartans. Marcel Pimpton added 11 and Blair Anderson chipped in nine for Connally.

The Cougars never trailed in the contest, jumping out to a 4-0 lead on baskets by Pimpton and Mike Egwagu. After a Spartan three, Connally responded with a 16-0 barrage and took complete control of the game. Adrian Williams got things started with a basket and Standberry scored nine straight points himself to push the Cougar lead to 20-3.

Connally’s swarming defense presented problems for St. Stephens all night long. The Cougars forced 11 turnovers in the first half and many of them resulted in transition baskets. That was exactly the case when Dion Gaddy made a steal and took it down the court for a layup to push Connally’s lead to 27-13. Davon Martin followed the basket with five straight points, including a 3-pointer, helping the Cougars to a 32-18 halftime advantage.

Connally led 32-20 early in the second half when their defense went back to work creating points. After Egwagu found a wide-open Williams for a basket, Gaddy stole the Spartans’ inbounds pass and fed Williams for another layup attempt. Williams was fould on the play and converted both the free throws to put the Cougars up 38-21.

Standberry drained two more three’s and Pimpton dropped in a couple layups, helping Connally’s lead grow to 49-26 with 10 minutes left in the game. Jailen Bass-Thomas got in on the scoring action, knocking down a three and Martin dropped in a couple buckets to help the Cougar lead grow to 57-30 at its zenith. St. Stephens closed the game with a 13-2 run as Connally pulled back the defense and cruised to the win.