Mansfield Summit defeats Marshall to claim first state championship in program history

Mansfield Summit came into the Class 5A Division 2 state title game facing a familiar opponent. The Jaguars had lost to Missouri City Marshall by five points on Dec. 14 in a tournament in Houston.

The Jaguars got their revenge, however, as Summit used a lock-down defensive effort to subdue Marshall 54-47 in a thriller on Saturday, Mar. 8 at the Alamodome.

Summit (33-7), No. 6 in the state in Class 5A according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches, won its first state championship in its second state tournament appearance. The Jaguars lost in the state semifinals to Killeen Ellison, 52-50, in 2023, but defeated Ellison in the state semifinals this season.

“I’ve been waiting for this,” said junior guard Theo Brannan who finished with 12 points and did a fantastic job of handling the ball and the Jaguar’s offense. “I told Ian (Sedah), freshman year, we’re gonna be back. I told everyone in the locker room. I told Caleb (Richard), as soon as he comes over here, we’re gonna go win this.

“Everybody knew that we’re gonna be back. We just had to keep working and be ready for it.”

Summit played stifling defense in the first half to take a 25-13 lead at the intermission. No. 2 Marshall (37-3) only shot 31% (5 of 16) in the first half, and 33% (15-45) for the game, but a lot of that was due to the defense by the Jaguars.

The Jaguars trailed 7-6 when Caleb Richard hit a big three that started a 16-2 run that gave Summit its biggest lead of the first half at 22-9.

“We focus on getting stops all the time,” said Summit coach Emund Prichett. “I think most of our practices and everything we do is about being able to get stops. You have to be focused and everybody has to do their part.

“We also needed to have five guys rebound the ball and I thought we did that for the most part. I think that was the big piece to the game.”

It was more of the same in the second half. The Buffalos cut the lead to seven points at 28-21 with 3:28 left in the third quarter, but a three pointer by Javon Ross and a lay in by Brannan pushed the lead back to 12 at the end of the period.

Marshall made a push late and cut the lead to five, 48-43, with 1:07 left behind Eian Lowe, who led all scorers with 28 points, and Jonathan Walker. Lowe however fouled out at the 1:35 mark of the fourth quarter.

It just wasn’t the Buffalos day as Marshall hit only three of 19 three pointers in the game.

Summit on the other had shot 44% (12-27) from the floor and hit five of 11 (45%) three pointers. Ian Sedah, the Championship Game MVP, finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds and was a dominating force for Summit.

“This is my last game so I told myself that they’re gonna get the best out of me,” said Sedah, a senior forward. “So overall you saw the results and I just want to thank God that I was able to bring it home for my city and my family.

“My sister gets to go around saying her brother is a MVP state champion, and so does my mom who’s my back home MVP.”

Caleb Richard hit three big threes for nine points for the Jaguars.

Marshall was also looking for its first state title in its second appearance at state. The Buffalos lost in the state championship game in 2017 to Mansfield Timberview 74-66.

Timberview won Mansfield ISD’s last boys basketball championship during the 2019 season.

“I’m just really grateful to God that He was just guiding me here and we were able to beat the team that we’ve lost to,” said Sedah. “In my mind I knew we could beat them because we’re a better team, like it was no doubt.

“They didn’t get the best out of me the last time we played them. They can have the win in Houston, but now we got the win for the UIL.”

This story was originally published March 8, 2025 at 12:57 PM.