Duncanville goes on monster run to silence Humble Atascocita in state semifinals
It’s rare to see Duncanville trail in any game, let alone 30-10.
The Panthers were down by 20 points at the 5:06 mark of the second quarter against Humble Atascocita in a Class 6A state semifinal on Friday night at the Alamodome.
But Duncanville, state champ in the past three seasons, lit a fire and started to play angry.
Duncanville went on a 40-6 run from there and allowed just four second-half points during its 50-36 victory. The Panthers (35-1) advance to the 6A state championship where they will face fellow DFW team McKinney at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“We have some real dogs and they never quit,” Duncanville coach David Peavy said. “They believe in themselves and what we want to do. Coach Martinez and Atascocita had a great game plan and did what we thought they’d do. They gave us problems.
“Second half, these guys did a great job wearing them down and making some big plays mostly on the defensive end.”
The Panthers won titles in 2019 and 2021, and were co-champs during the 2020 COVID year.
“McKinney is really good. I think they’re better than what I saw from them tonight,” Peavy said. “Should be a really good game.”
Duncanville shot just 29% in each quarter during the first half and trailed 32-19 at intermission. The Panthers came out after the break on fire with a 13-2 third-quarter advantage.
Atascocita (34-8) was limited to 1 of 5 shooting in the third quarter and missed all six attempts from the floor in the fourth. The Panthers made all seven attempts in the fourth quarter and won the period, 18-2.
“They just wore us down. They were the better team tonight. Their length and size overwhelmed us at the end,” Atascocita coach David Martinez said. “They started to get up on us. They have a lot of length and it comes in waves.”
Duncanville’s Ron Holland scored a team-high 12 points to go with nine rebounds and three steals. Anthony Black added nine points, four boards, three assists, three blocks and three steals. Davion Sykes chipped in seven points.
The Panthers forced 18 turnovers and turned it into 22 points.
They also won the fast-break battle (13-3) and second chance points (7-0).
“When we realized they had only scored four points in the second half, it was good to see our hard work play out on the court,” Duncanville senior Rassaun Colier said.
It was like there was an imaginary lid on Duncanville’s basket as the Panthers couldn’t buy a bucket in the first quarter. The Panthers led 2-0 before the Eagles went on a 14-1 run with 2 1/2 minutes left.
Ashton Hardaway hit a three with 20 seconds left as the Panthers trailed 16-7 after one. From there, the Eagles out scored Duncanville 14-3 to go up 30-10 in the second. The Eagles hit three straight three-pointers from David Martinez and two by Landyn Jumawan.
Duncanville pulled within 13 at the break following a Aric Demings three with 56 seconds left to play in the half.
The Eagles scored their only points of the third quarter with a Martinez layup at the 5:37 mark to give them an 11-point lead. Demings’ three trimmed it to 34-32 with three minutes left and neither team scored the rest of the period.
Duncanville tied it at 34 on an Evan Phelps layup and the Panthers took the lead for good on Holland’s dunk with 6:03 left in the game.
“I told these guys that we weren’t coming here to lose,” Peavy said. “Never ever thought we were going lose.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 11:06 PM.
