After staggered start, Timberview Wolves advance to Regional final
Mansfield Timberview never trailed as they dispatched the Highland Park Scots 61-48 Friday in a Class 5A Region II semifinal at the Curtis Culwell Center.
Four players scored in double figures for Timberview (29-7), which has won its four playoff games by an average of 18 points.
Tim Johnson led the Wolves with 17 points, followed by Isaac Likekele with 14, William Owens 13 and Chris Mullins 11.
Timberview meets Waxahachie or West Mesquite in the regional final, Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Wolves sputtered offensively at times in the first quarter but still managed to build a 12-10 lead by the end.
“I think it was nerves,” Johnson said. “Once we got to the second and third quarter, we settled down and played our game.”
The Wolves closed the second quarter on a 13-5 run to build a 27-17 halftime lead. Owens opened the second half with a 3-pointer and later in the period Johnson’s layup gave Timberview its largest lead at 46-28.
Highland Park (25-10) scored the last six points of the third quarter and Ethan Nussbaum’s basket in the fourth brought the Scots within 10. But a pair of Johnson free throws halted the 8-0 run and Highland Park never got any closer.
“Highland Park isn’t going to run away,” Timberview coach Duane Gregory said. “They’re going to keep hanging around and knock this shot down or knock that shot down. That’s what they did, but I was our pleased with our guys. We kept them at bay and made the plays we had to make.”
Nussbaum led all scorers with 23. Michael McMonigle added nine for Highland Park.
“When the ball moves for us in transition and into the half court, we get a lot of different guys on the scoreboard,” Gregory said. “That happened for us tonight.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2017 at 9:09 PM with the headline "After staggered start, Timberview Wolves advance to Regional final."