Originally Appeared on Vype

HOUSTON – Life is a journey and sometimes just because you leave a place doesn't mean you will never return.

Sam Benitez's coaching journey kind of played out that way as it took him away from North Shore after the 2012-2013 season. Benitez, who had served as an assistant coach under David Green for six seasons, took the top job at Cypress Springs.

When North Shore needed its next head coach Benitez made his return to the East Side.

"It's been great, I feel like it is coming full circle," Benitez said. "I left to have an opportunity to be a head coach and build a foundation as far as a philosophy as a coach. To be able to come back and put that philosophy to the test and seeing we can be successful is great."

The philosophy that Benitez has brought back to North Shore has worked.

It has worked really well.

In his inaugural season as the Mustangs' head coach, North Shore is 23-2 and ranked No. 5 in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Weekly Poll after climbing as high as No. 1 in Texas in the past few weeks.

"I feel like we have a good group of kids that have a chance to be pretty successful," Benitez said. "They bought into what we're preaching and put in a lot of time and effort and we were able to do some things to get off to a pretty hot start."

North Shore rattled off a 19-game winning streak already this year, not losing a game between November 20 and January 15.

"I think we're still a work in progress," Benitez said. "We definitely have some pieces and we've definitely been successful. It just goes to show you can get beat any night. With that in mind we take it with a grain of salt, get back to practice, work on some things that we need to improve on."

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