Boys Playoff Basketball Recap (2/25): Martin, North Crowley squeak out wins and more

Boys

Mansfield Legacy 60, Birdville 56

Birdville could do little wrong in the first two quarters, but Legacy rallied to down the Hawks 60-56 in a Class 5A Region 1 area round game Friday night at UT-Arlington’s College Park Center.

Legacy (26-8), No. 9 in the final state rankings, trailed by as much as 18 points in the first half. A basket credited to Legacy’s Rykiez Smith on a goal tending call on Myles Amason tied the game at seven a piece with 3:42 left in the first quarter before No. 14 Birdville (23-11) took over.

The Hawks went on a 22-4 run led by three-pointers from Daniel Sykes, who led Birdville with 12 points, and Gehrig Normand, who also had a thunderous dunk during the spree. After a pair of baskets from Clyde Cummings pushed the Hawks’ lead to 29-11, the Broncos took a timeout with 6:31 left in the first half.

Legacy chipped away from that point. A personal 5-0 run by sophomore Lejai Jordan for the Broncos cut the lead to 31-19 with 3:55 left in the second quarter.

Wayne Wiggins, who led all scorers with 21 points, scored the final eight points of the first half, including two threes, to cut the lead to 37-27 at intermission.

Legacy hit three three-pointers, two by Amir McMillian and another by Wiggins, in a 49-second span early in the third quarter to pull within 38-36. Isaiah Manning gave the Broncos their first lead of the game, 42-41, with a three-point play with 3:33 left in the third quarter.

The game was extremely tight from that point with six lead changes. Birdville was unable to hit a basket from the floor in the final 2 1/2 minutes and Wiggins was a clutch 4 of 4 from the free throw line in the final 62 seconds to seal the win.

Audrey Cox added 12 points for Legacy on four three-pointers.

Richland 68, Arlington Seguin 49

Richland junior guard Mark Rucha scored a game-high 28 points, including five three-pointers, to help the Royals steadily pull away from Seguin in a 5A Region 1 area round game Friday night at College Park Center.

Richland (27-6) tied the game at eight points a piece after a lay in by C.J. Nelson with 1:57 left in the first quarter. Seguin (14-17) could never solve Richland after that.

Rucha hit four threes and had a put back of his own shot in a 4:34 span of the second quarter to open a 28-18 lead with 1:47 left before halftime. By the time Rucha had scored his 10th point of the third quarter, on a free throw at the 55 second mark, Richland had built its biggest lead at 50-30.

Seguin’s play-making point guard C.J. Booker struggled in the first half, but came alive in the fourth quarter to help the Cougars pull to within 11 points twice. The second time came with 2:41 left in the game after a Booker lay in cut the lead to 57-46.

The Royals went on an 11-3 run after that to put the game away.

Booker scored all 13 of his points in the second half and had 11 in the fourth quarter. Mafatime Ndiaye also had 13 points for the Cougars with Andrew Huntley chipping in eight.

Jourdyn Grandberry had 17 points for Richland with Nelson and Jalen Nettles contributing 10 points each. Nettles was 7 of 8 from the stripe, going 6 of 6 in the fourth quarter and 4 of 4 in the final 1:19 of the game.

Arlington Martin 47, Denton Guyer 46

For the second time in three seasons and fourth in six, the Martin Warriors are going to the regional quarterfinals after taking down the Guyer Wildcats in a Class 6A Region 1 area round game on Friday.

Martin improves to 26-7 and will play Lake Highlands in the quarterfinal round. Lake Highlands beat Plano 58-56 on Friday.

Guyer ends the season 30-6.

Martin led by as much as 11 points before Guyer made its comeback. The Wildcats had a chance for the go ahead basket with seconds left on the clock, but the Warriors got a big steal to end the game.

Eight Martin players scored led by Cydd Ford’s 15 points on 4 of 8 shooting.

Andre Norris and Cody Stevens added eight and seven points. Stevens dished out three assists.

Mansfield Timberview 87, Grapevine 55

Chendall Weaver made six threes on his way to a game-high 33 points and Timberview eliminated Grapevine in the 5A Region 1 area round on Friday.

Timberview (32-4) will play Mansfield Legacy in the regional quarterfinal round.

Legacy rallied back to beat Birdville on Friday.

Three other Timberview Wolves scored in double figures with Donovan O’Day (13), Jared Washington (12) and Samir Dhalle (12).

Weaver scored 11 points in the first quarter as the Wolves led 26-11.

He scored 17 in the first half.

Grapevine ends the season 22-13. The Mustangs finished in fourth place in District 6-5A, but did win the bi district round with an upset win over 5-5A champ Brewer.

Terrance Ramirez led the Mustangs with 25 points.

Mansfield Summit 73, Denton Ryan 39

The Summit Jaguars had their way with Ryan during a 5A Region 1 area round game on Friday.

Summit won its 29th game of the season (29-5) and advances to the regional quarterfinals where it plays Richland at 7 p.m. Tuesday from Wilkerson Greines Center in Fort Worth.

Richland moved on Friday after beating Arlington Seguin.

The Jags led 20-10 after the first quarter and the rout was on. Ryan was held to eight second quarter points and 18 the first half as Summit owned a 42-18 lead at intermission.

Summit out scored Ryan 16-7 in the third quarter.

Richard Lemboye led all scorers with 24 points, 16 coming in the second half. Nick Shogbonyo added 21 points and scored 14 in the second quarter. Max Jones chipped in 10.

North Crowley 45, Odessa 44

Trailing by one in the closing seconds, North Crowley senior CJ Williams drained a three-pointer with four seconds left to push the Panthers past Odessa during their 6A Region 1 area round win on Friday.

North Crowley (29-6) advances to the regional quarterfinals where it plays Odessa Permian.

Permian beat Keller in overtime on Friday.

Quick Hits: Grace Prep beat Colleyville Covenant 50-45, in a TAPPS 4A regional game and advances to the state tournament. The Lions won their 32nd game of the season and will play in the semis Friday at Robinson. Keller and Byron Nelson’s season ended in the area round. Keller lost to Permian 67-66 in overtime while Byron was knocked out by El Paso Americas 55-44. Keller Central edged out Frenship 77-75 to clinch a spot in the 6A Region 1 quarterfinals where the Chargers take on Americas on Tuesday at Andrews. Western Hills lost to Hirschi 59-42. The Cougars had their best season since winning their last bi district title in 2007. Argyle advanced with a 70-27 rout over Brownwood. Grapevine Faith, Fort Worth Christian and Nolan Catholic play a regional game on Saturday. A win will put them in the TAPPS state tournament. Dunbar plays Burkburnett on Saturday in the area round. Check back for updated scores.

This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 8:54 PM.