Playoff Recap: Euless Trinity snaps 20-year postseason drought

In December, Euless Trinity gave Denton Guyer one of its rare losses on the season. UT-San Antonio signee Jhivvan Jackson dropped 49 points. On Tuesday night, Guyer couldn’t stop the Trojans point guard again.

Jackson poured in 52 points and hit five 3-pointers as Trinity upset No. 15 Guyer 92-91 in overtime during its 6A bi-district win at Flower Mound Marcus High School.

“The team trusted me to make plays, and I just came ready,” Jackson told Adam Boedeker of the Denton Record-Chronicle.

Trinity (18-12) moves on to the area round to play Duncanville, which hung on to beat Waco Midway 55-53, 7:30 p.m. Friday at Arlington High School. It’s the first playoff win for the program since the 1996 state semifinalist team.

“We knew the challenge that faced us, they’re one of the top teams in the region and super loaded,” Trinity coach Mark Villines said. “We beat them in Decemeber without two of their starters, so we knew it was going to be a tougher challenge, but one we could achieve.”

The Trojans, the No. 4 seed out of 5-6A, led the 6-6A champion Wildcats 79-72 with 1:18 to play, but Guyer rallied to tie it with 18 seconds left. Trinity’s Christian Mavula blocked a shot attempt from Guyer’s De’Vion Harmon at the buzzer.

“That was one you hold your breath on,” Villines said. “It was a great play and a great block.”

Guyer went up four in overtime before Jackson was fouled on a 3-point attempt and hit all three free throws. The Wildcats made 1 of 2 from the line for a 91-89 lead and Jackson converted on an and-1 opportunity with six seconds left.

“After he scored 49 in December, I told people he wasn’t going to score 50 and that we needed others to step up, so it was pretty unreal,” Villines said. “Jhivvan was on his A-game, but the other boys also fed off that. Hunter Whitcher was 5 of 5 from three and Josh Kashila made some big buckets.”

Whitcher scored 16 points and Kashila added 11.

Former Trinity standout and current Indiana Pacer Myles Turner was in attendance to see his Trojans make history.

Birdville 73, FW Southwest 72 (2OT)

The Hawks made late free throws to beat Southwest 73-72 in double overtime during their 5A bi-district win on Tuesday night at Saginaw High School.

Birdville (23-8) will play Denton Ryan, a 64-51 winner over Boswell, in the area round, 7 p.m. Friday at Timber Creek.

“It was a back and forth game all night, just when we would go on a run and thought we had it won they would storm back and tie it up,” said Birdville junior guard Noah Wheeless.

Birdville led 18-9 after the first quarter and 33-21 at halftime. The Raiders (16-16) were led by junior Jairion Lusk who scored a game-high 27 points. Southwest outscored the Hawks 35-23 to force overtime. Each team scored seven points in extra play.

“Our motto is to survive and advance and we did just that last night,” Wheeless said. “The bi-district championship felt great but we have bigger goals to achieve throughout the playoffs.”

Wheeless had a team-high 23 points. Jalen Adams scored 19 and Colby Feris and Will Sorrells added 16 and 11 points.

Chisholm Trail advanced after beating Rider 62-40 behind 17 points from Ryan Flores. FW Eastern Hills got past Arlington Heights 56-54 in overtime and Denton beat Brewer at the buzzer for a 54-51 overtime victory.

This story was originally published February 22, 2017 at 1:04 PM with the headline "Playoff Recap: Euless Trinity snaps 20-year postseason drought."