Fort Worth Wyatt boys slip past Crowley to advance

By Darren Lauber

Special to the Star-Telegram

MANSFIELD — Coming out of a timeout with 2:33 left in the game, Fort Worth Wyatt went on a 7-0 run to build a 10-point lead, then held off Crowley for a 47-44 victory in a boys Class 4A bi-district playoff Tuesday night at Mansfield High School.

Wyatt (19-11) will meet Fort Worth Dunbar in the area round at a site and time to be determined.

“I told the guys, ‘Hey, this is our game and we have to go get some stops right now,’ ” said Wyatt coach Rodney McFadden . “We were not getting consecutive stops, but for a couple of minutes after that we were getting stop after stop after stop and converting on our end.”

A Crowley turnover and two missed 3-pointers by the Eagles turned into two Byron Smith lay-ins sandwiched between a Deon Daniels 3-pointer that gave Wyatt a 46-36 lead with 56 seconds left in the game.

Crowley (15-15) battle back behind a Steve Lawson basket and two 3-point baskets by Kyle Wilson, who led all scorers with 19 points, but Wilson’s final three came with 4 seconds left, and Wyatt was able to inbound and run out the clock.

Wyatt’s Andrew Nunley led the team with 14 point, but McFadden heaped his praise on Nunley for his ability to handle Crowley’s aggressive defensive pressure in a game with few fouls.

“He’s tough as nails and just fearless driving into the paint,” said McFadden of Nunley. “He’s probably my best ball-handler as far as pressure is concerned and he has no problem attacking defenders.”

Crowley opened the second half with an 8-0 run on the strength of two field goals by Wilson and a 3-pointer by Dion Malone to take a 27-24 lead with 6:26 left in the third quarter.

Wyatt battled back to tie the game at 34 to end the third quarter before taking over late in the fourth.

Smith scored 6 of his 9 points in the fourth quarter. Daniels finished with 11.

“It was hard-fought … it was a playoff game,” said McFadden. “I’ve been a part of this for a lot of years and it was everything I expected.”

Looking for comments?