Dallas Madison pulls away late, holds off hometown San Antonio Cole in 3A semifinal
Dallas Madison and San Antonio Cole came into their Class 3A state semifinal game with a combined 131 points per game.
But Thursday’s matchup in the Alamodome was far from that.
Cole, which was at the state tournament for the first time since 2012, led 15-12 at intermission, but Madison got hot in the third quarter on its way to a 43-33 victory.
The No. 3 Trojans (20-15) advance to their ninth state title game to take on No. 1 Brock (34-5) in the 3A final, 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Both teams combined for 14 points in the first quarter and 13 in the second. Madison shot 23.8 percent from the field in the first half, but the Trojans pulled away thanks to a 22-9 advantage in the third quarter.
The Cougars (34-6), who are eight miles from the Alamodome, led 17-12 to start the second half off a layup from 6-foot-10 freshman Vincent “Baby Shaq” Iwuchukwu. NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal helped win Cole’s only state title in 1989.
Trailing 22-18, Madison went on a 9-0 run. Warren Dunn tied it at 22 and Dyeshun King drained a 3-pointer that forced Cole to call a timeout with 3:58 in the period. Jerome Rogers hit another Madison three to push the lead to 30-23 and the Trojans ended the frame on a 16-2 run. They led 34-24 after three.
With Madison up 37-27, Cole scored the next six to force the Trojans to call a timeout, holding onto a 37-33 lead with 1:46 left, but that’s as close as the Cougars would get.
Dominique Robinson led Madison with a game-high 12 points and 11 rebounds. Iwuchukwu led Cole with 10 points, seven boards and eight blocks, which is second all-time in 4A state history (records held since 1990).
This story was originally published March 7, 2019 at 5:24 PM.
