Lake Highlands and Byron Nelson advance to play in the 6A Region 1 District Finals

The 6A Region 1 District Semifinals were played at Robert Hughes Court in the Wilkerson-Greines Athletic Center on Friday.

The doubleheader kicked off with a game between the No. 1 Lake Highlands Wildcats (30-3) and the No. 24 North Crowley Panthers (31-6).

Lake Highlands beat North Crowley 63-43 to advance to the 6A Region 1 District Finals on Saturday.

North Crowley began the second half only trailing by five but the Wildcats embarked on a 13-4 run and the Panthers deficit never dipped below nine points for the remainder of the game.

The Panthers second-half struggles stemmed from turnovers and tough shot-making from Lake Highlands.

The player that opened things up was Lake Highlands junior guard Tre Johnson who led all scorers with 23 points and hit multiple step-back threes and layups to punish the Panthers.

“Turnovers we turned it over a few too many times there was a couple plays whether you talk about calls or just 50-50 balls that just didn’t go our way and they made us pay for them on the other end,” said North Crowley head coach Tommy Brakel.

Many of the North Crowley turnovers and general difficulty scoring could be attributed to Lake Highlands senior center Samson Aletan. Standing at 6-foot-10 inches, Aletan was the biggest player on the court and played like it.

Aletan used his length, athleticism and size to not only block multiple shots but to deter the Panthers from even entering the paint while he was on patrol.

Aletan’s defense paired with the Panthers lack of shooting prowess made it hard for them to draw the big man out of the paint with any regularity.

The Panther defense worked hard to control the big man’s scoring on the offensive end of the floor and had some success despite their size disadvantage.

“We knew we were undersized and to try and defend someone with his athleticism and his size his length we wanted to stay engaged as much as we could,” said Brakel, “ I thought we did ok with it, he’s such a handful and he had a great game tonight.

Brakel praised his team for their fight during the game and their accomplishments throughout the season such as winning the McDonald’s tournament in Houston and winning their district championship.

“They were a bunch of guys that just scrapped and fought the whole way,“ said Brakel, “They’ve done some things you cannot underappreciate.”

Lewisville Hebron High School Hawks Versus Byron Nelson High School Bobcats

In the second game of the night, Byron Nelson (30-7) won 54-43 over Hebron (23-13).

With four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Hebron had clawed its way to a one-point deficit after going on a 7-0 run.

Nelson senior guard Brice Barbarin responded with the two biggest shots of the game.

Barbarin hit back-to-back three-pointers to push the lead back to seven and kickstarted a 15-0 run that would effectively end the game.

“Brice is a great player, we tell him to stay ready and he stayed ready and he come in and busted this thing open. Couldn’t happen for a better kid, he’s such a great kid and a great teammate,” said Byron Nelson head coach Scott Curran.

Hebron was able to stick around in the game in part due to the tremendous play of Isaiah Dixon.

Dixon dominated the paint while leading the Hawks in scoring with 14 points and was a handful on the boards all night with several putbacks after offensive rebounds.

“Man we just tried to put a body on him he’s so big and athletic it gives us problems,” said Curan.

Despite Dixon’s play anytime Hebron got the score close Byron Nelson responded with a run to keep them at bay. A big reason for that was Senior guard Finley Bizjack.

Bizjack led all scorers in the game with 22 points and was effective at drawing fouls getting to the line ten times in the game and shooting 6-of-10 from the line. Bizjack was a handful with multiple Hebron defenders taking turns trying to slow him down throughout the game.

“Finley’s a gamer always has been and always will be,” said Curan, “He’s a winner, he lives it and he’s put in a lot of hard work to get to this position and I couldn’t be prouder of him.”

The Bobcats fell short two years ago losing in the semifinals and Curan stated he knew they would be back.

“They’re tough as nails they don’t back down from anything, they expect to win each time they touch the floor. We got here two years ago and got worn out in the semifinals, I said we’d be back and we’re back. we’re going to the finals now and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

Lake Highland and Byron Nelson will face off tomorrow for the 6A Region 1 District Championship at 1 p.m. CT at Wilkerson-Greines Atheltic Center.

This story was originally published March 3, 2023 at 11:33 PM.

Lawrence Dow

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Lawrence Dow is a digital sports reporter from Philadelphia. He graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from USC. He’s passionate about movies and is always looking for a great book. He covers the Texas Rangers and other sports.