Fort Worth Wyatt boys send Denton Ryan home in 5A area round championship

Fort Worth Wyatt coach DeMarqus James couldn’t pinpoint the moment his Chaparrals pulled away from Denton Ryan Thursday night, but he was sure a three-point shot by Kendall Fair was involved.

Wyatt, the state’s fifth-ranked team in Class 5A, behind a game-high 17 points from Marcell McCreary upended the Raiders, 59-44, in a 5A Region 1 area-round boys basketball game at Colleyville Heritage.

After being fouled on a three-point attempt in the second quarter, Fair, who finished with 16 points, made all three free throws to give Wyatt a 15-9 lead. The Chaparrals would then outscore the Raiders, 14-7, to take a 29-16 lead into halftime.

With 4:37 to play in the third quarter, Fair rattled home a three-pointer that ended a 6-0 scoring run by Ryan and gave the Chaparrals a 36-22 lead. After a Wyatt timeout, the Chaparrals would use an 8-5 run to take a 44-27 advantage into the fourth quarter.

“That was one of those shots that I’d rather have back but it went in,” James said. “I immediately called time out to try and settle our guys down because they were on a run before we hit that three. There were several plays that propelled us to a double-digit lead and then we just tried to control it late by spreading it out and making them come out to guard us.”

The Chaparrals (21-5) will take a 15-game winning streak into their regional quarterfinal meeting with Mansfield Timberview (21-3) at 4 p.m. Saturday at Arlington ISD Athletics Center.

It’s the Chaps first trip to the quarters since 2018. Timberview beat Birdville on Wednesday.

“Looking at the bracket when it came out, we knew that if both teams took care of business that we were going to end up playing them,” James said. “I have a lot of respect for coach [Duane] Gregory and the program that he has built. They are a state championship-caliber team and we are going to see where we are at as a team when we play them.”

Both teams struggled in the first quarter with missed shots and turnovers, but the Chaparrals were able to hold a 10-7 advantage going to the second quarter.

“We have an experienced team and after the first quarter we told them to settle down and play our game,” James said. “We just continued to do what we needed to do and won the game.”

Ryan (21-7) was paced by 13 points from Kevin Thompson. Kerrington Hughes scored seven points while Jordan Ware and Marcette Lawson each tallied six points.

Wyatt’s Jacobi Lewis scored nine points and Bobby Flowers added five.

This story was originally published February 25, 2021 at 10:58 PM.