North Crowley boys basketball playoff run halted by McKinney
McKinney, No. 13 in the final TABC Class 6A poll, knocked off No. 1 Richardson in the regional quarterfinals earlier this week and North Crowley found out why.
The Lions built an early lead and never relinquished it in a 64-48 victory over the Panthers in the first 6A Region I semifinal on Friday night at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center.
McKinney (33-5) will face the Arlington Martin (27-7)-El Paso Americas (35-2) winner in the Region I final at 1 p.m. on Saturday back at Wilkerson-Greines.
The Panthers dug themselves a 7-0 hole and struggled to recover. McKinney kept a five- to nine-point lead for much of the rest of the first half. North Crowley (30-7) cut the lead to three twice late in the second quarter. A put back by Gerrick Brown with 2:36 left before the intermission cut the lead to 23-20 and a pair of free throws by C.J. Williams trimmed the lead to 25-22 at the 1:01 mark.
But the Lions responded with threes by Devin Vincent and Jacovey Campbell in the final 50 seconds, both assisted by Ja’Kobe Walter to push McKinney’s lead to 31-22 at halftime. After trailing by nine at the half, North Crowley never got any closer.
Starting at the 2:02 mark of the third quarter, the Lions hit six 3-pointers. Campbell and Vincent ended the third quarter just like the second with back-to-back threes to put McKinney up 46-29 going in the final quarter.
A three by Thatcher McClure gave the Lions their biggest lead of the night at 53-31 with 5:52 left in the game. The Panthers made a mini run late in the game to cut it to 13 points, 59-46, but it was too little too late. Vincent had three 3-pointers to finish with a game-high 17 points. Campbell chipped in 15 points with four 3-pointers.
Ten different players scored for North Crowley led by K.D. Davis with 11 points. Davis and Justin McCray pulled down eight rebounds each for the Panthers.
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 8:02 PM.
