Argyle shuts down Huffman Hargrave from start to finish to win Class 4A championship
The Argyle Eagles out-shot, out-rebounded, out-defended, and in the end outlasted, Huffman Hargrave Saturday afternoon to win the UIL Class 4A boys basketball state championship, 49-30, at the Alamodome.
The third-ranked Eagles (31-1) won their second title in program history, and first since 2012. Hargrave (31-2), which was making its first championship appearance, shot only 28% and had to contend with Argyle connecting on half of all of its shots.
“It’s something you dream about for a long time. I wasn’t able to do it as a player, but I’ve been down here a few times as a coach,” Argyle coach Russell Perkins said. “To go and win it, it’s special. Being able to play on the last Saturday for a state championship, it’s memories I’ll never forget.”
Skylar McCurry, who was voted MVP with 12 points, hit three triples in the first half and led all scorers with nine points. His first three-pointer gave Argyle a 7-2 lead midway through the opening period.
Hargrave cut it to 7-5 on a Grey Soileau trey, but Argyle would answer with a 12-0 run to close out the frame with a 19-5 lead. The Falcons went scoreless in the final 3:30, missing two shots and committing four turnovers. Slate McMellian got a layup off an Argyle steal and McCurry hit back-to-back threes, the latter just beating the buzzer that gave the Eagles the 14-point advantage.
Hargave scored the first five points of the second quarter to cut the deficit to single digits, but Argyle responded with a six-point run of its own. Layups by Grey Goodson and Eli Valentino helped increase the Eagles’ lead to 25-10 with 4:12 to go before half. The Falcons cut it to 10 before Argyle took a 26-15 lead into the break.
The Falcons got as close as seven at 28-21 following a Jacob Harvey layup with 3:36 left in the third quarter, the closest they had been since the 1:28 mark of the first quarter.
But Argyle held the Falcons to nine points the rest of the way.
McCurry hit his fourth triple to make it 32-21 with 1:20 left in the third quarter. They took that lead into the final period. Hargrave never got back to within single digits. Their closest margin at 11 points twice early in the fourth.
“He was huge and that was a big shot at a great time,” Perkins said of McCurry. “We started off so well and I started to coach and it got worse. We let them go again and it got better. Skylar has done that all year long, hitting big shots at big times. Anytime a team makes a run at us, the ball goes into his hands. He makes big shots all the time.”
Argyle’s largest lead came at 49-29 with 1:19 to go after a pair of free throws by Hutch Burns. The Eagles shot 18 of 35 from the field (51.4%) and out-rebounded the Falcons 29-19. Nate Atwood finished with 10 points and six rebounds. Valentino chipped in 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting.
Harvey led Hargrave with 12 points. The Falcons shot 10 of 36 from the field (27.8%) and 4 of 16 from beyond the arc.
“The team is ready to play every night,” Perkins said. “We’ve been behind in the fourth quarter twice all year long. That’s it. It takes a lot of strength and courage to get here and to play at the best of our ability.
“We have 16 guys that get after it.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2021 at 4:22 PM.
