Last week's Dallas ISD Coca-Cola Boys Basketball Tournament was the 71st edition of the event, so its history includes many dramatic finishes. But few of those tournaments could match this year's final two days of boys competition at Ellis Davis Field House.
In the quarterfinals,
DeSoto needed overtime to beat South Grand Prairie, 68-62, and
Lincoln (Dallas) needed overtime to beat Madison, 99-89. In the semifinals, Lincoln beat DeSoto 52-51 on
Kryon Criner's halfcourt shot at the buzzer.
In the third-place game on Wednesday, DeSoto went to overtime again before beating Richardson Berkner, 74-66. And then came the championship game, a back-and-forth battle waged by Lincoln and
Kimball (Dallas).
Lincoln star
LeBryan Nash, a 6-7 forward who signed with Oklahoma State, nailed three 3-pointers but powered inside for most of his 34 points.
Jordan Williams, a 6-6 forward who signed with North Texas, led the way for Kimball with 28 points. He was named the tournament's MVP after Kimball (15-2) took down Lincoln (18-1), but it was a Kimball guard who stole the show in the 81-79 win.
With the game tied and 10 seconds remaining, Kimball senior
Austin Franklin dribbled to the top of the key, crossed over to his left and hit a 12-foot floater with 1.3 seconds left.
It was quite a finish, and it could be a preview of what's to come as district play begins this week. The Dallas area is again stacked with more than a dozen boys teams that could challenge for the Class 3A, 4A and 5A state titles in March. Marcus is ranked No. 21 and Lincoln is ranked No. 23 in the latest edition of the
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 boys basketball rankings.
"It's like that here every year," said DeSoto boys coach Chris Dyer, whose teams won 5A titles in 2003 and '09. "The kids here know each other well because they play each other all summer. It's really competitive."
