Bethesda Christian boys comeback attempts thwarted in TAPPS Class 2A state title game

Every time the Fort Worth Bethesda Christian boys would rally in Thursday’s TAPPS Class 2A state title game, Houston Grace Christian would have an answer.

And that answer was more often than not a basket from beyond the arc by Grace’s Cayden Munnilal.

Munnilal dropped in seven three pointers, most of which halted runs by Bethesda, as Grace Christian captured their third state championship with a 64-52 win over the Lions at Robinson High School.

“It was a hard fought game going back and forth,” said Bethesda coach Tim Owen. “I felt like every time they made a run, we made a run, but we just couldn’t get enough stops to continue the runs that we had.”

Bethesda (32-7) never led in the game, but did force ties at 2-2 and 4-4.

Munnilal, who led all scorers with 25 points, dropped in a three to up the lead to 7-4 and then hit back-to-back threes after the Lions pulled to within 10-7 to push the lead to 16-7 with 2:16 left in the first quarter.

Grace (26-16) would keep Bethesda at arms length, leading by nine to 14 points, until late in the second quarter. Lion’s forward Kevin Thornton hit back-to-back threes of his own at the 3:03 mark and with 2:22 left in the second quarter, both times cutting the lead to seven points.

But Munnilal answered with threes both times helping the Eagles take a 12-point lead (35-23) into the intermission.

Bethesda cut the lead to five three separate times late in the third quarter, but a three by Myles Herbert for Grace Christian pushed the lead back to eight on the second occasion.

Thornton, who led Bethesda with 23 points, hit a three to pull withing 42-37 with 2:24 left in the third quarter, but the Eagles followed with a 9-0 run to get back to a 14-point lead.

“Kevin’s been a dog all year defensively and offensively,” said Owen of Thornton who was stellar keeping the Lions in the game. “He’s a coach’s dream. He does everything. He plays defense, his ability to score when plays break down, his leadership on and off the court...he’s just been solid all year.”

Grace’s largest lead came after a basket by Munnilal gave the Eagles a 63-44 lead with 1:29 left.

Bethesda’s journey to the title game was anything but smooth sailing.

“We had a situation in district where we were 2-3 and didn’t know if we were even going to make the playoffs,” said Owen, whose team came in as the second seed from District 2-2A. “We had to play five games in seven days after the freeze and we won four of those to get to the district championship game tie-breaker.”

Eli Owen, one of three seniors on the team and son of coach Tim Owen, also faced some adversity this season.

“Eli is actually playing with a torn ACL,” said Tim Owen of his son who the team counts on for production behind the arc. “He tore it his freshman year and then retore it his junior year. He hasn’t had surgery on it and we were gonna wait, but maybe we’ll do it now.

“He’s played all year with that brace and he’s been unbelievable to fight through that. We count on him for some threes, but he was just off a little bit today.”

Eli Owen did hit two threes and finished with eight points.

Thornton, Hanson Allen (10 points) and Christian Blackwell (2) each made the all-tournament team for Bethesda. Munnilal, Myles Herbert (5) and Quincy Parker (7) were all-tourney selections for Grace Christian.

Isaac Uribe and Michai Seals had 11 and 10 points respectively for the Eagles.

This story was originally published February 24, 2023 at 5:02 AM.