Mesquite seniors Alex Cooper and Rashard Higgins did not play in the first quarter in Tuesday's 12-5A contest against Rockwall.

In their absence, the Skeeters struggled and actually found themselves trailing early on.

Cooper and Higgins did not play in the fourth quarter, either.

Because by that point, their presence and production during the middle stages of the game was more than enough to lift Mesquite to victory.

Led by their senior duo, the Skeeters outscored the Yellow Jackets 41-16 during the second and third quarters as they rolled to a 62-37 victory at Mesquite High School.

The Skeeters stay perfect in 12-5A with a 4-0 record and have now won 15 of their last 17 games.

The contest was a microcasm of Mesquite's season. Cooper and Higgins, along with a couple of other team members, missed the first part of the year because of their roles on the Skeeter football team that advanced to the area finals.

Not coincidentally, the Mesquite basketball team lost its first six games.

Since the Skeeters have had their full roster, they have caught fire, and Cooper and Higgins have led the way.

Mesquite trailed 14-12 early in the second quarter when Higgins ignited the team with a dunk. Moments later, Cooper knocked down his first 3-pointer of the game to give the Skeeters a lead they would not relinquish.

Higgins knocked down a trey and Cooper added another from just inside of midcourt as time expired in the first half to give them a 29-18 lead.

Mesquite took complete control in the third quarter during a 20-5 run in which Cooper and Higgins accounted for all the points.

Higgins got things started with a 3-pointer and a layup. The duo then provided the highlight of the night when Cooper tossed an alley-oop pass of the backboard to Higgins for the jam that made it 37-24.

Cooper then got red-hot from behind the arc, hitting a trio of 3-pointers in a two-minute span before Higgins capped the run with a transition basket that pushed the advantage to 49-24.

Mesquite was never threatened in the fourth, as reserves Ben Hancock, Codarius Vault, Cameron Brown and Tory Gamble helped keep the Yellow Jackets from staging a run.

As easy as the ending was, there were some anxious moments early. Vault and Dejohn Shealy scored the first two baskets of the game and Davion Keys converted a pair of putbacks to give the Skeeters an 8-4 lead.

But Rockwall closed strong, as Skyler Simmons hit a trey and Jaylen Veasley scored inside to give them a 10-8 lead after one quarter.

The Yellow Jackets were able to hold on to the advantage for the first two minutes of the second quarter, but once Cooper, Higgins and the rest of the Skeeters got going, they had no answers.

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