North Crowley boys hold off Arlington Bowie

By Greg Bogomol

Special to the Star-Telegram

Jalen McCloud sparked an 8-0 run in the game's final 3:06 with a 3-pointer, helping North Crowley to a 67-62 victory over visiting Arlington Bowie in District 3-5A boys basketball Friday night.

Brandon Hall gave Bowie (14-8, 2-1) a 52-50 lead, its first of the game, with a basket with 6:35 left in the game. He scored again, giving the Volunteers a 54-50 lead.

Malcolm Hughes added a dunk to make it 56-52 with 4:23 to play, before McCloud sparked the run with his 3-pointer, followed by a 3-pointer by Brandon Webb with 2:35 to give the Panthers (16-6, 3-0) the lead for good at 59-58.

Trailing 61-60 after Jeremy Senglin hit a pair of free throws, Bowie missed a layup and a Kevin Simmons layup with 51 seconds sealed the victory and increased to 75 the Panthers' winning streak of home district games.

"This was a game we were worried about going into it as we knew Bowie was a good team and had been playing well," North Crowley coach Tommy Brakel said.

"We just had to challenge them the last five minutes. It's one of those things where sometimes the home and district winning streak can work against you as much as help you."

North Crowley used a 13-2 run in the first quarter to open an 18-7 lead and was up 21-13 after one quarter as the Panthers hit 5 of 6 3-point shots.

Bowie got back in the game late in the third quarter. Trailing 46-35, the Vols went on a 10-2 run to get within three at 48-45. Senglin and Hall added three points apiece. Senglin then hit a 3-pointer to start the fourth to tie the game at 48.

Norense Odiase, a 6-foot-8 senior, scored 11 points in the third quarter for North Crowley.

"Our kids played hard and did a lot of good things," said Bowie coach Allen Gratts. "We just missed a couple of easy shots that changed the game."

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