State roundup: LaPoynor, Faith Family and Lake Highlands reach state title games
CLASS 2A STATE SEMIFINALS
LaRue LaPoynor 66, Flatonia 43
LaRue LaPoynor had two players with double doubles as the Flyers cruised into the Class 2A state title game running away from Flatonia 66-43 on Friday in the semifinals at the Alamodome.
LaPoynor, No. 2 in the final TABC Class 2A state poll, will be in search of its sixth state championship when the Flyers take on No. 1 Lipan (37-1) in the title game at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. LaPoynor has reached the title game in all but two of its 11 appearances at the state tournament.
No. 10 Flatonia (34-5) was making its first appearance at state.
Cooper Gracey had 14 points and 10 rebounds for LaPoynor with Dijuan Whitehead tallying 12 points and 12 rebounds. Evan Almeida nearly duplicated the feat with 14 points and nine rebounds.
The game was tied at seven at the 1:35 mark of the first quarter after a pair of made free throws by Flatonia’s Jaidyn Guyton.
From that point the Flyers went on a 10-0 run and then steadily built its lead up to 17 by halftime at 35-18. Flatonia could not pull any closer than 14 points down the rest of the way.
Holden Kloesel led the Bulldogs with 13 points with Keyshaun Green adding 11 points and three assists.
CLASS 4A STATE SEMIFINALS
Dallas Oak Cliff Faith Family 67, Amarillo Randall 47
Dallas Oak Cliff Faith Family used its considerable height advantage to subdue Amarillo Randall in the first Class 4A state semifinal.
Faith Family (31-3), the top-ranked team in the state in Class 4A, will try to secure its third state title in five trips to the tournament when the Eagles face the Boerne (32-5)-Houston Washington (28-7) winner at 7 p.m. on Saturday back at the Alamodome.
Jadyn Toppin, a 6-8 forward, and Doryan Onwuchekwa, a 6-10 forward, scored 26 and 19 points respectively for the Eagles. Onwuchekwa filled up the stat sheet adding 13 rebounds, six assists, three blocks and three steals.
Toppin pulled down 15 boards and had three blocked shots.
Randall, from the Canyon ISD, pulled to within 10-7 on a three-point play by junior K.J. Thomas with 3:03 left in the first quarter. Thomas thrashed the Faith Family defense for a game-high 33 points for the Raiders.
But from that point Faith Family went on a 15-0 run capped by a Peyton Gusters lay up that gave the Eagles a 25-7 lead. Randall, making its first appearance at the state tournament, never cut the lead back to single digits the rest of the way.
Houston Washington 75, Boerne 69
Houston Booker T. Washington was pushed to the limit by a scrappy team from Boerne, but an offensive explosion by the Golden Eagles’ Odis Carter Jr. late in the third quarter gave Washington a big enough cushion to hold off the Greyhounds 75-69 in the second Class 4A state semifinal on Friday at the Alamodome.
No. 4 Washington (29-7) will meet top-ranked Dallas Oak Cliff Faith Family (31-3) in a much anticipated state title game match up at 7 p.m. on Saturday back at the Alamodome.
It was the third straight season that Boerne has lost in the state semifinals. The Greyhounds have reached the title game once in six appearances and is still looking for its first state championship.
BTW led by as much as 10 points in the first quarter, but the Greyhounds closed the gap with lay ups by Colton Hoegemeyer and Koen Wolff. That was followed by a three by Wolff with 40 seconds left in the first quarter that trimmed the lead to 19-16.
From that point the game remained very close until the 3:57 mark of the third quarter. Washington was 45-41 when Carter, who led all scorers with 24 points and six of 10 from behind the arc, hit three three pointers and scored 11 points in a 3:33 span to push the lead back to 10 with 1:01 left in the third period.
Boerne (32-6) was able to cut the lead to four at 73-69 with 27 seconds left in the game, but couldn’t complete the comeback.
Chris McDermott, a 6-7 junior forward, was a force inside all game for the Eagles. McDermott added 22 points, 16 rebounds and blocked three shots. Andre Walker II contributed 11 points and six assists for Washington.
The Greyhounds had all five starters finish in double-digit scoring. Barrett Pape (19 points) led Boerne with, Houston Hendrix (14), Wolff (14), Trevor Agarwal (12) and Hoegemeyer (10) also reaching the mark.
CLASS 6A STATE SEMIFINALS
Beaumont United 70, San Antonio Brennan 68
San Antonio Brennan guard Camden Cowgill missed a three pointer at the buzzer allowing Beaumont United to escape with a 70-68 win over the Bears in the first of two Class 6A state semifinals on Friday night at the Alamodome.
United (36-1), ranked No. 2 in the final TABC Class 6A state poll, will play in the state championship game against either No. 1 Dallas Lake Highlands (33-3) in the championship day finale at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday back at the Alamodome.
United dominated the past two seasons in Class 5A and is the reigning, back-to-back, 5A state champions. And after moving up to Class 6A this season the Timberwolves are on the cusp of making it three titles in a row in two different classifications.
No. 14 Brennan (32-8) was playing catch up most of the night and just couldn’t creep all the way back until right at the end. The Bears never led and the game was never tied, but United never led by more that 10 in the first half.
The Timberwolves stretched the lead to 16 points with 6:29 left in the third quarter on a lay in by Wesley Yates III, who led all scorers with 31 points.
The Bears crept back and finally went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 68-65 to get Brennan in striking distance.
Brennan was making its second trip to the final four after losing in the semifinals in 2013.
The Bears will be the favorites to return to state for the foreseeable future with only one senior that sees the majority of the playing time. Three freshmen, two sophomores and a junior make up the rest of the regular rotation for Brennan.
Dallas Lake Highlands 52, DeSoto 44
Dallas Lake Highlands and DeSoto both struggled shooting from the floor, but in the end the Wildcats pulled out a 52-44 win over the Eagles in the Class 6A semifinals to advance to its second state championship game.
Top-ranked Lake Highlands (33-3) will face No. 2 Beaumont United (36-1) for the Class 6A title at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Alamodome.
It has been 55 years since Lake Highlands made its only previous trip to the state tournament. The Wildcats won the Class 3A state title in 1968.
No. 16 DeSoto (30-9) shot a dismal 2 of 16 (13%) from the floor in the first half, both three pointers. The Eagles wound up shooting better in the second half, but had to battle back from 20 points down with 31 seconds left in the third quarter.
DeSoto then went on a 21-7 run and pulled within six of Lake Highlands at 50-44 with 19 seconds left in the game on a three pointer by Arrington Cooper. But that was as close as the Eagles would get.
Not only did DeSoto shoot poorly the Lake Highlands three-quarter court press and tight defense also forced 19 turnovers by the Eagles.
Cooper led DeSoto with 12 points with Jaxon Davis contributing nine points and nine rebounds.
Tre Johnson had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Lake Highlands. Jaylen Washington added 11 points and Samson Aletan had 10 points for the Wildcats.
DeSoto is was making its sixth appearance at the state tournament and has only missed playing in the championship game twice, including this year. The last time the Eagles were at the state tournament, in 2016, they won one of their three title trophies.
