South Grand Prairie boys cruise into basketball championship game

From wire reports

AUSTIN — Sophomore guard Jaelan Austin scored 20 points and South Grand Prairie rolled into the boys Class 5A state championship game with a 60-43 semifinal win over Cibolo Steele on Friday at the Frank Erwin Center.

Ben Emelogu added 14 points and four assists for South Grand Prairie (37-3), which is playing in its first state tournament since 1975 when the Warriors lost in the final.

Both teams struggled shooting from the field, but South Grand Prairie went 21 of 34 from the free throw line while Steele was just 1 of 8.

C.J. Siples scored 12 points and Austin Henry had 12 points and 11 rebounds for Cibolo Steele (25-13).

• Fort Bend Travis 59, Richardson Berkner 52: Fort Bend Travis brought two of the best basketball players in the country to Austin. One more game will decide if the Tigers have the best team in Texas.

Aaron Harrison scored 19 points and his twin brother Andrew scored 18 and Fort Bend Travis (32-5) earned a return trip to the Class 5A championship game by beating Richardson Berkner (33-6).

The senior twins are rated as two of the best players in the country and have signed with Kentucky. They shook off a 3-of-20 shooting start and took over the game in the second half. They finished with a flurry, showing off a pair of high-flying alley-oop dunks in the final two minutes.

Kendal Harris scored to 11 points lead Berkner

Class 2A semifinals

• White Oak 69, Winnie East Chambers 50: Hayden Nichols scored 21 points and Levi Yancy added 16 to help White Oak (36-1) earn a spot in today’s championship game against Brock.

Josh Benson added 13 points for White Oak, which outscored East Chambers 38-26 in the second half. Brennan Becket made three of five 3-point attempts and led East Chambers (26-10) with 11 points.

Class A Division II semifinals

• Douglass 53, Water Valley 44: Bryce Westbrook scored 20 points and Douglass (30-6) cruised into today’s final. Reed Westbrook added 16 points for Douglass, which advanced in its first state tournament.

The Westbrooks combined for five of Douglass’ seven 3-pointers. Brock Demere had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Water Valley (33-3).

• Roxton 71, Texline 65, OT: Quinton Walker scored 25 points and Roxton (29-4) used a 10-0 run at the start of overtime to beat Texline. Walker started the overtime period with a 3-pointer and quickly added another basket as Roxton built a 66-56 lead.

Aaron Gutierrez had 25 points and 20 rebounds for Texline, which missed a desperation 3-pointer in the final second of regulation.

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