Anderson coach Eric Swanson speaks to his team during a timeout at Burger Center on Jan. 31, 2026 in Austin, Texas. Anderson defeated McCallum 46-35 in a District 24-5A contest.
Colby Gordon/American-Statesman
It’s not quite a stranglehold, but Anderson tightened its grip on the District 24-5A boys title race Saturday.
Playing rival McCallum roughly 24 hours after the game was postponed from Friday night due to water issues at the Knights’ campus, the Trojans used a stifling second-half defensive effort for a 46-35 win at Burger Center to take a two-game lead in the district standings.
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“We went in at halftime and knew our closeouts had to get better,” said Anderson guard Ben Burris, who scored six of his seven points in the fourth quarter. “We were giving them too many open (3-pointers). So we just wanted to make sure we knew our personnel and fly around on defense, and that’s what happened.”
After being tied 21-21 at the break, the Trojans allowed two points in the third quarter. They built a 39-27 lead midway through the fourth following Nick Briggs’ 3-pointer.
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Miles Rickards scored eight of his team-high 13 points in the second half as Anderson (15-15, 8-0) slowly took control. McCallum (12-13, 6-2) could never get on track offensively.
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“We started playing zone more, put pressure on their ball-handlers, got a lot of deflections and were wreaking havoc on their passing lanes,” Trojans forward Zach Wallis said.
Both teams had to adjust to the postponement. Saturday’s game took place on a court that has a different shooting backdrop and a much larger capacity than the typical high school gym. Anderson coach Eric Swanson, who used an 11-man playing rotation, held a 9 a.m. shootaround for his players, and Wallis said the day almost felt like a postseason scenario.
“It was kind of tough showing up to the school, then learning we can’t play and just having to turn around and go home,” Wallis said. “We had a playoff game last year, so it was kind of set up like that, and we knew how it would go.”
The Trojans fell behind 16-8 early in the second quarter, then rallied to tie the game at the break behind 3-pointers from Rickards, Will McElvaney and Jude McCharen. Anderson took its first lead after Damari Perkins opened the second half with a shot in the lane, and its defense made sure it never trailed again.
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“The kids responded in the second half and did a better job holding them to one shot and being done,” Swanson said.
Though the off-campus site and gym size took some of the heat out of arguably the Austin area’s best rivalry — “It wasn’t as loud here as it would have been (at McCallum),” Wallis noted — the atmosphere was still solid. Both student sections swelled to more than 125 and provided jovial chants throughout the contest. And the parent/community sections were just as big.
After getting swept by McCallum a year ago, the Trojans returned the favor this season.
“It’s huge, and it’s huge for our confidence going forward,” Burris said. “But we have bigger goals, so this isn’t like our Super Bowl or anything. It’s just a step in the right direction.”
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Anderson is two games into a three-game road trip against the other teams in playoff positions in the district. Even if it loses Friday at Bastrop, it’s hard to see a scenario where the Trojans aren’t at least district co-champs. But that’s not something that would satisfy their players.
“It’s my senior year and I just really want to go undefeated and be district champs,” Wallis said. “We’re on the right track, but we got four games left.”
Ethan Plummer’s 14 points for McCallum led all.
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