To see Monday’s boys basketball roundup, click here.
Allen In-n-Out InvitationalMcKinney Boyd, Berrouet barrel past Mesquite
ALLEN — When McKinney Boyd lost to Plano on Dec. 19 it turned out to be a mini turning point of the season in a positive way. Even better for Boyd, its recent play has set up a rematch against the team that started this recent scenario.
Led by sophomore center Benji Berrouet, Boyd rolled to a 70-53 win over Mesquite in a Gold Division II semifinal of the Allen In-N-Out Invitational on Tuesday at Eagle Gym. Berrouet filled up the stat sheet with 27 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, four steals and three blocks.
Boyd will play District 6-6A rival Plano for the division championship at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Eagle Gym. Plano edged El Paso Andress 58-55 in the other semifinal. Plano defeated Boyd 60-50 in 6-6A game on Dec. 19 at Plano.
High School Sports
Berrouet had 13 first-half points, including six capped by a dunk as part of 15-2 run to give Boyd a 34-17 lead with nine seconds left in the first half. Boyd (13-6) shot 15 for 25 (60.0 percent) from the field in the first half. Berrouet had 25 points through three quarters when Boyd had command with a 60-33 lead.
Since losing to Plano (16-4), ranked No. 19 in the TABC Class 6A state rankings, Boyd is 3-0 with two wins over other state-ranked teams. This includes a 68-62 victory over Mansfield Timberview – ranked No. 5 in the TABC 5A state poll – on Monday in the invitational. Boyd coach Jeffrey Vines said his team’s transition offense has been better since playing Plano, an opinion shared by Berrouet.
“Our good offense was more because of hustle. We passed the ball well because we have a hunger, and that hunger is thinking we are the underdogs in every game,” Berrouet said. “I think playing Plano again is a positive thing. You learn more the more you play teams like them.”Parker Barr added 13 points and six rebounds for Boyd while Adam Herra had 10 points and five steals. Jordan Hawkins had 17 points with four three-pointers for Mesquite (9-10).
Plano had a 10-2 fourth-quarter run including two putbacks by Akanna Ngene to give Plano a 53-46 lead against Andress. Plano had a 33-25 edge in rebounds with Tim White grabbing 12 boards to go with 12 points.
T.J. Johnson also had 12 points for Plano, while Jack Burley added 11 points and six rebounds. Toraino Johnson Jr. scored 22 points for Andress (11-5).
— Rick Kretzschmar
Anna, Richardson survive double-OT semifinals
Karson Jones scored eight points in overtime while Noah Foster added seven as Anna outlasted Frisco Lone Star 87-82 for a double-overtime win in a Silver Division I semifinal on Tuesday. Anna (12-6) will face Richardson, which edged Lovejoy 88-86 in double overtime as well in the other semifinal, in the division final at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Eagle Gym.
Foster finished with 22 points while Keshawn Myles added 19 for Anna. Bryant Robinson scored 26 points, including six three-pointers, for Lone Star (8-10) while Trey Wright added 22 points.
Lucas Sutherland scored 26 points to lead Richardson (10-8) while Jayden Blair had 23 points, eight in the second overtime period. Alex Cheatham scored 21 points for Lovejoy (14-5), which beat Highland Park in quadruple overtime on Monday.
In the Silver II Division, freshman Tristan Wade scored 22 points to lead Frisco Independence to a 64-50 semifinal win over Forney. Matt Laurant added 15 points for Independence (9-7) while Cole Ramsey had 17 points for Forney (7-9).
Independence will play District 11-5A rival Frisco Emerson for the division title as Emerson edged Mount Pleasant 58-55 in the other semifinal. Independence defeated Emerson 57-44 on Dec. 19 at Emerson,
Jordan Hopkins scored 17 points, 11 on free throws to lead Emerson (8-11) while Dylan Davis added 12 points on four three-pointers. Carter Chism scored 22 points for Mount Pleasant (9-6).
In the Bronze II Division, Luke Spraggins scored 14 points to lead Central Heights (10-8) to a 55-48 win over Aubrey in a semifinal. Antwon Jones scored 13 points for Aubrey (3-12).
— Rick Kretzschmar
The Championship TournamentBirdville rains out Mansfield Summit’s tournament run
FORT WORTH — Birdville hit the gas early and often in its semifinal against Mansfield Summit, 69-61, connecting on a tournament-high 12 three-pointers.
Normally, Birdville’s go-to man Sawyer Dotson sets the tone but against Summit, Brandon Lohmann’s 10 points were an added wrinkle to the up-tempo offense.
“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Birdville Anthony Holman said. “We knew they’re really good team and a really well-coached team. We wanted to get off to a good start, and we just kept talking about being who we are and when our efforts where it’s supposed to be, we can really play like we want to play. As long as we’re locked in, our effort stays high, then we feel like we can play with anybody in the state.”
Lohmann finished with 20 points with Dotson adding a game-high 25 points. The pair combined for nine of Birdville’s 12 threes. Heading into the contest, Summit had only surrendered over 66 points once this season.
The final in the Championship Basketball Tournament will be Birdville against South Grand Prairie at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. SGP has a chance to win its third Championship Basketball Tournament while Birdville is playing for its first-ever event win. If Birdville wins, it’ll be five first-time winners over the last five consecutive seasons, a first for the 68-year event.
– Ishmael Johnson
South Grand Prairie surges past Denton Guyer in semifinal
FORT WORTH — In what head coach Brandon Bennett called his team’s best shooting game of the season, South Grand Prairie ended Denton Guyer’s run in the Championship Basketball Tournament winner’s bracket 69-63 Tuesday night in the semifinal.
SGP connected on 10 three-pointers in the contest, including four from Jacobi Ewing. Only Cayden Perry (17 points) had more than Ewing for SGP.
“That made it really exciting for me,” Bennett said. “We can kind of carry that over moving forward, and then we finally got some shots down in the end. I don’t think we played great defense early, both teams were scoring the ball in a hot clip. But we shot it well for sure.”
Down the stretch, the defense got the stop it needed to when Guyer trailed by four with just over a minute to go. Silas Rodriguez went up for three but was contested before Brycen Nguyen attempted a put-back but it was also short. Rodriguez finished with a game-high 22 points.
On the other end, SGP’s Victor Hassan hammered home a two-handed dunk for the exclamation point with under a minute to play. SGP will play in the Red Division championship game at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
— Ishmael Johnson
Denton Guyer takes rematch vs. Keller in quarterfinal
One of the few rematches in the Championship Basketball Tournament happened in the quarterfinal of the winners’ bracket with Denton Guyer beating Keller for a second time this season, 44-41.
A stingy final defensive possession to force a missed 3-pointer near the buzzer sealed Guyer’s win. The possession came after Keller missed a pair of free throws following an intentional foul call against Guyer in the waning minutes, clinging to a 42-39 lead.
Guyer head coach Grant Long shouted, “Overcome it all,” to his players following the call. Guyer has only surrendered over 60 points once this season, something he credits to the program’s consistency.
“It was just about adjusting to [the call], and playing a little more physically with our stuff, or seeing what we can get away with and what we can do, and then just adjusting to that,” Long said.
Keller held Guyer to its lowest point total since the season-opener against Denton Ryan.
“I knew [Keller was] going to be good,” Long said. “They had us by three going into the fourth in their place and we had a great fourth quarter. So I knew it was going to be a dog fight. It was going to be a battle. They’re big, physical. They’re good of kind at every position, so you really can’t help off any certain guy. I think they’re gonna be one of the top two in that district over there.”
— Ishmael Johnson
South Grand Prairie stays hot vs. Plano East
The team of the tournament so far has been SGP knocking off two teams with a combined 29-6 record in Richardson Pearce and No. 18 Plano East, which it beat 46-37 to advance to the tournament semifinal. Senior Jacobi Ewing led all scorers with 14 points.
South Grand Prairie held Plano East to just one basket during the second period and held the 18th-ranked team mostly scoreless until the 3:55 mark in the third.
“I think we played a more physical style, our guys played more physical,” SGP head coach Brandon Bennett said. “We kept [Plano East] out of the paint, really kept them in front of us and that slowed them down a lot. I think in the first quarter, we gave a lot of paint touches, and so they were breaking us down a little bit. We slowed a bit, slowed them down, played more physical, and then we were able to increase our lead.”
South Grand Prairie held Plano East to its lowest point total of the season so far.
— Ishmael Johnson
5A-I runner-up Birdville advances
Both Birdville and Killeen Shoemaker live to push the pace offensively, but it was the reigning Class 5A Division I state runners-up who eventually took control in a 75-53 win.
The game started high-scoring on both ends with a 40-point first period combined. But thanks to the most experienced scoring combo in the tournament, Sawyer Dotson and Avery Webb, who combined for 49 points, Birdville opened a 40-20 scoring advantage over the second and third periods.
Defensively, after living in the paint against Arlington Martin, Shoemaker struggled to find easy buckets inside, scoring just two field goals in the second period.
— Ishmael Johnson
Mansfield Summit knocks off LD Bell
Despite senior Jesse Mikus’ 16-point performance in the final period, Mansfield Summit ended LD Bell’s run in the quarterfinals of the Championship Basketball Tournament Tuesday afternoon, 55-52.
Summit led for the entire game and ballooned its lead to as many as 14 points before Bell’s late rally. But 12 points from senior Javon Ross, including five clutch three throws late, and allowing just points in the third period was enough for Summit to punch its ticket to the semifinal against Birdville.
— Ishmael Johnson
Dallas ISD TournamentSouth Oak Cliff edges DeSoto in OT, wins Pool D
Jonathan Bradley scored five of his game-high 30 points in overtime as South Oak Cliff edged DeSoto, 74-73. Bradley made five 3-pointers.
DeSoto center Chrishun Smith hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime. Behind Anthony Spencer’s seven points, DeSoto had a strong first quarter and led by seven. The lead would remain seven at the half.
Bradley had help. Yusuf Muhammed scored 17 points while RC Herrin added 11.
Spencer and Valrick Haliburton each scored 15 points to lead DeSoto. Tra’Davien Young scored 12 points—all in the first half.
SOC will face Carter, winner of Pool A, at 8:30 Tuesday at Ellis Davis in the semifinals of the winner’s bracket.
— Anthony Green
Frisco Memorial’s strong 4th-quarter defense downs Kimball to advance
Xander Pruzinsky scored 11 of his game-high 15 points in the second half as Frisco Memorial defeated Kimball, 58-46, in Pool B. Memorial won Pool B because of point differential. Beaumont United defeated Memorial, 75-70, on Monday, while Kimball defeated Beaumont United, 76-71, on Monday night.
The game was nip and tuck in the first half. Memorial guard Jackson Childers helped Memorial get off to a good start and scored all nine of his points in the first quarter. Memorial led 14-12.
Rylan Austin made a 3-pointer late in the first half to give Kimball a 24-23 lead. Memorial finished the half on an 8-0 run and led 31-24.
The game featured four ties and 13 lead changes.
Kimball took its only lead of the second half, 40-39, when Kayden Gray made a 3-pointer. Pruzinsky answered with a layup. Memorial scored the final six points of the third quarter and led 45-40.
Memorial then switched to a 2-3 zone defense to start the fourth quarter. Kimball’s offense became stagnant and struggled to get open looks.
Gray led Kimball with 12 points while DJ Daniel added 10. Point guard Rylan Austin finished with eight points, all of which came in the first half. Memorial will face Houston Legacy, winner of Pool C, at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Ellis Davis Fieldhouse in the semifinals of the winner’s bracket.
— Anthony Green
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