Senior leads Saginaw boys past Birdville in overtime

By Greg Bogomol

Special to the Star-Telegram

SAGINAW -- There is no secret to what the Saginaw boys basketball team is going to do offensively. They get the ball to playmaking senior Dominique Johnson.

Johnson carried the load in the second and fourth quarters and found help from his teammates in the others periods to pull out a 57-51 overtime victory over Birdville in a District 6-4A game Tuesday.

The Rough Riders (9-4, 3-0 District 6-4A) struggled to get anything going in the second and fourth quarters, scoring only 11 points total in those two periods combined, all by Johnson, who had a game-high 28 points.

"Dominique is definitely the leader and steps it up for us when it counts," Saginaw coach Brent Craft said. "He came up big tonight, and there is no question he's going to be the one to take us as far as we want to go."

Down four at halftime after leading by six after the first quarter, Saginaw closed the third quarter on a 13-3 run to grab a 40-34 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Junior point guard Zach Tomblin, who spent a majority of the first half on the bench, spearheaded the run with five of his seven points during that stretch. His other basket came with his team leading by one with 56 seconds left in overtime.

The teams went to overtime tied 47-47 after Johnson hit two free throws with 19 seconds left in regulation and Birdville (5-10, 2-2) missed at the buzzer.

With the score tied 49-49, Ashten Newton made a driving move to the basket to give Saginaw the lead it for good.

Birdville held Saginaw to 2-of-17 shooting in the fourth quarter and grabbed a 45-40 lead as Ben Barnett scored all six of his points during a 9-0 run. However, Johnson then scored Saginaw's next seven points to tie it 47-47.

Looking for comments?