MANSFIELD — South Grand Prairie built an early lead then slowly pulled away from Colleyville Heritage 64-43 in a Class 5A boys basketball area-round game Friday night at Legacy High School.
South Grand Prairie (33-3) will advance to the Region I quarterfinals and play the Killeen Ellison-Flower Mound winner at a site and time to be determined.Colleyville Heritage (24-10) opened the game with a basket by Aaron Rhodes off an assist from Noah Nelson, but the Warriors answered with an 11-0 run to take the early advantage.Five players scored during the spree, but Cameron McGriff’s dunk that gave SGP a 4-2 lead sparked the Warriors.“I love the way that we started the game,” said SGP coach Brandon Bennett, who was leery of the Panthers getting off to a fast start and then putting his team in long defensive possessions.“I think our kids came out and sent a message early. We wanted to get out to a fast start and create pace and tempo and score fast and make them play from behind.”The Panthers had little trouble with the Warriors’ full-court, pressing defense, but Colleyville Heritage was cold from the field early and South Grand Prairie did a good job of boxing out, allowing only one chance for most possessions.South Grand Prairie led 17-9 after one quarter and 33-19 at the half as the Warriors’ balance on offense made it difficult for the Heritage defense.Four players scored in double figures for SGP, led by Jalon Anderson, who scored 17 points. Ben Emelogu, Mark Howell, and Trey Hall added 14, 12, and 11, respectively.“We don’t have one guy that goes out and scores 25 or 30 points; usually we’re pretty balanced,” Bennett said. “I have three guys that almost average double digits and so any given night the next guy will step up.”Colleyville Heritage pulled to within 39-30 when Colten Gober, who led all scorers with 18 points, hit a 3-pointer with 1:15 left in the third quarter, but SGP started the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run to build the lead back up to 17.More information
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