Dallas comes up big at Texas boys basketball championships

The Dallas area was big-time for big school basketball as boys state championship titles were claimed in Class 5A by Marcus (Flower Mound) and Class 4A by Kimball (Dallas).

Before lauding the Marcus Marauders and Kimball Knights for their worthy wins, it is also worth noting that the team that was edged out for the gold medal in 5A was Garland Lakeview, which for most of the season set atop the TABC/Tex Preps Basketball state rankings until suffering a difficult 40-38 loss to Marcus.

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The Marauders were also a charmed program throughout the season and rested just below Lakeview at No. 2 in the state before getting the dream matchup that graced the Erwin Center at the University of Texas. The loss was especially tough for a Lakeview team that graduates a whopping 10 seniors while Marcus will lose only two players and will return its core of Marcus Smart, Phil Forte and A.J. Luckey.

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As expected, Marcus and Lakeview dominated the UIL All-Tournament team with the Patriots' Toddrick Gotcher (Texas Tech) and Chris Jones (University of North Texas) cracking the squad along with Smart and Marcus senior Connor Taggart.

Kimball, no stranger to playing in state championship games, played at its desired pace, jumped to an early lead and held tight to it in the second half on the way to beating Texas-bound Julien Lewis and La Marque in a 78-64 4A final.

Kimball jumped out to a 42-30 halftime lead and despite the 26 points from Lewis managed to ride the 23-point effort of Shannon Lilly to take care of matters even after the Cougars cut the lead to 60-57 with just over two minutes remaining in the game.

In addition to Lewis, other college-bound players from the 4A tilt include the Kimball frontcourt of Jordan Williams (North Texas) and Jalen Jones (SMU). Kimball senior Austin Franklin joined Jones and Lilly on the all-tournament team along with Lewis and Darrian Provost-Johnson from La Marque.

One team that was probably the happiest to earn a title in Austin was Class 3A West Oso (Corpus Christi). Despite being a perennial power in the 3A ranks, the Bears had come to Austin nine times in the past only to leave nine times at best a bridesmaid and never a bride.

That all changed this year when the Bears edged yet another 3A power in Burkburnett, 61-57. Not only was it title No. 1 for West Oso, but the win marked the first time since 1950 that any team representing Corpus Christi had won a state championship. West Oso had lost championship games in 1988 and 2001 while falling in the semifinal round in their other seven appearances at the tournament.

Burk seniors Derrell Gibbs and Jerard Graham were honored on the all-tournament team while fellow seniors Willie Harper and Raymond Robinson placed on the team for West Oso.

Another thrill-a-minute championship took place in Class 2A where West Texas power Idalou slipped past an athletic East Texas squad in Tatum, 55-54. Trailing by three, Tatum had one last chance go awry when a 3-point heave by Neil Harkless was far off the mark.

Junior Riley Payne was the man for Idalou with 22 points and an important 12 of those in the final period. Idalou capped a remarkable 33-1 season with the win while Tatum ended at 32-8.

Payne earned all-tournament honors along with senior teammate Luke Buckner, while Tatum was represented by senior Kendall Bell.

In Class A Division I, Kainon Irons had indeed been the iron man all season for Eula (Clyde), and he saved his best for last to lead his team to a 64-49 win over Tenaha. Irons racked up 31 points and 13 rebounds after scoring 32 of his team's 54 points in a semifinal win over Evadale. Irons was just four points shy of the Class A championship game record of 35 owned by Calvin Gerke of Snook in 1966.

Irons and fellow senior Jacob Archa were named all-tournament for Eula while Tenaha placed a pair of juniors in Reginald Davis and Octavius Griffith.

Moving down to Class A Division II, Paducah took care of Bronte in a 45-30 win. This one was considered an upset as Bronte had just moved down from Division I and held the top spot in Division II for all season behind coach Rocky Rawls and his talented sons, seniors Dakota and Kerwin.

Paducah brought out its own senior firepower in A.J. Cantrell, son of coach Jay Cantrell, along with Andrew Hastings and Lonnie Hurd. All three were named all-tournament for the Dragons. Hastings led the way in the title game with 19 points despite the team getting off to a slow start in missing its first 13 field goal attempts.

R.V. Baugus is the publisher of Tex Preps Basketball magazine and texprepsbasketball.com.