Live: Whataburger Orange coverage

By John Henry

Special to the Star-Telegram

HALTOM CITY — Plano East 61, Richardson Berkner 55: Marcus Mathieu scored 20 points and Travis Pugh added 12 to lead the Panthers to a place in the Whataburger Orange Division championship game at Thomas Coliseum.

Plano East held off a late rally by the Rams, who were led by Keenan Evans' 12.

Berkner will face Arlington Martin or Long Beach Poly (Calif.) in the third-place game at 5 p.m. Saturday.

The championship game is at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Arlington Martin and Long Beach Poly are playing in the second semifinal late Friday.

Richland 65, Euless Trinity 47: Oklahoma State signee Leyton Hammonds had 21 points and teammate Hayden Hunter 20 in the Rebels' convincing victory over its northeast Tarrant County neighbor in a consolation quarterfinals game of the Whataburger Orange Division on Friday evening.

Richland will face Trimble Tech in a consolation semifinal at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Thomas Coliseum. Plano West and Coppell will play in the other consolation semifinal at 11 a.m.

Myles Turner was the high scorer for Trinity with 11.

Coppell 61, Rowlett 52: Simi Socks scored 24 points and Landon Goesling added 18 for the Cowboys, who eliminated the Eagles from the consolation bracket of the Whataburger Tournament's Orange Division on Friday at Thomas Coliseum.

Rowlett entered as the state's No. 3-ranked team but heads home with consecutive losses.

The Eagles were upset by Arlington Martin in the first round. Jeffrey Carroll had 21 for Rowlett.

Coppell will play Justin Northwest or Plano West in a consolation semifinal at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Long Beach Poly (Calif.) 53, Spring Westfield 49 (OT): Kameron Murrell scored 15 of his game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter and overtime of the Jackrabbits' Whataburger Tournament Orange Division championship quarterfinals victory.

Long Beach advances to play Arlington Martin at 9:30 p.m. Friday.

Roschon Prince, a Southern California recruit, added 15 for the Jackrabbits, California's top-ranked boys basketball team which outscored Texas' 13th ranked team 25-10 in the final 12 minutes.

Prince's 3-pointer midway through the fourth cut into a 10-point deficit and started a feverish rally by Long Beach. Oregon signee Jordan Bell added 12 for Long Beach. Wesley Iwundu, a Kansas State recruit, had 17 for Kansas State.

The Mustangs next play in a fifth-place bracket game, against Bullitt East (Ky.) at 2 p.m. Saturday. The winner advances to play North Crowley or Duncanville for fifth at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Arlington Martin 46, Bullitt East (Ky.) 42: Nick Babb's two free throws sealed the upset and made the Warriors the surprise entrant into the Whataburger Tournament's Orange Division championship semifinals.

Babb led his team with 11 points. Derek Willis had a game-high 15, though he went scoreless in the last eight minutes after appearing to injure his ankle.

The Warriors, who topped the state's No. 3 in Rowlett on Thursday, advanced to tonight's championship semifinals looking for yet another upset against either Long Beach Poly, California's top-ranked team, or Texas neighbor Spring Westfield, No. 13 in Texas.

Bullitt moves into a fifth-place bracket game against the loser of Poly-Spring Westfield.

Martin trailed by 10 to start the fourth quarter, but began a decisive surge with Kordell Eilts' 3-pointer and Babb's layup off a steal. Eilts' two made free throws cut the defict to three.

Myles Garrett's layin tied the game at 38. Moments later the Warriors had an improbable lead on Eilts' 15-foot jumper. Garrett's monster slam off an assist from Shawn Hammer completed the rally.

Richardson Berkner 66, North Crowley 64: Soma Edo offensive rebound tip-in with five seconds left sent the Rams to the Whataburger Tournament Orange Division semifinals on Friday morning.

Keenan Evans scored a game-high 24 points for Berkner, the state's 10th ranked team which had a bye into the second round after Little Rock Parkview (Ark.) canceled its trip to Texas because of the winter storm.

Berkner advances to play either Duncanville or Plano East in the championship semifinals at 8 p.m. Friday.

North Crowley now plays for fifth place. The Panthers will face either Duncanville or Plano East at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Edo, an agile 6-foot-5 forward and Fresno State signee, had 16.

Jalan McCloud had 19 for North Crowley, including 11 in a big third quarter that got the Panthers back in the game.

Berkner led by as many as 15 in the first half, the beneficiaries of a 10-0 second-quarter run.

But North Crowley stormed back to start the third quarter, forcing three turnovers out of the gate and scoring the first 10 points of the second half.

Norense Odiase, North Crowley's 6-8 post, made Edo work for every basket, but he fouled out in the final minute trying to get in front of Berkner's big man.

Caleb Banks had two key buckets down the stretch for North Crowley. His layup off a long rebound put the Panthers up 62-60 with 2:55 left.

Plano East 40, Duncanville 39: Plano East advanced to the championship semifinals when Marcus Mathieu hit a free throw with 1.2 seconds left Friday in the Whataburger Tournament Orange Division at Thomas Coliseum.

Jarvis Pugh, a Santa Clara signee, had eight points to pace Plano East, which will face Richardson Berkner in the semifinals at 8 p.m. Friday. Jerami Grace had a game-high 14 for Duncanville.

A Duncanville turnover gave possession to Plano East with 43.2 seconds remaining. Duncanville had four fouls to give and used them while draining the clock to 9 seconds.

Mathieu was fouled driving the right side of the lane.

Chico Morales, who hit the game-winning jumper in the final moments of a first-round victory against Richland, drained a running hook to tie the score at 39 with 1 minute remaining.

Duncanville moves on to face North Crowley in a fifth-place game at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

Arlington Martin and Bullitt East of Kentucky are next in a third championship quarterfinals game. Spring Westfield and Long Beach Poly (Calif.) play at 2 p.m. before consolation games begin at 3:30 p.m.

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