State roundup: Jayton, Hitchcock, Childress, Dallas Kimball reach state title tilts

The UIL state boys basketball tournament started on Thursday at the Alamodome with semifinal games in Classes 1A, 3A and 5A. The 2A, 4A, and 6A semifinals will continue on Friday with all state championship games being held on Saturday.

CLASS 1A SEMIFINALS

Jayton 46, Tilden McMullen County 36

Jayton’s Nathaniel Williams poured in 26 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead the Jaybirds over Tilden McMullen County 46-36 in the second Class 1A state semifinal.

No. 2 Jayton (38-2) will face top-ranked Graford (36-3) at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday for the 1A state title.

McMullen County (37-3) took its only lead at 2-0 to open the game on a lay in by Byron Huerta. From that point Williams and the rest of the Jaybirds kept the Cowboys at arms length.

A lay up by Williams with 5:51 left in the third quarter gave Jayton its biggest lead at 13. MC chipped away at the lead and when the Jaybirds shooting went cold for a 3:40 span early the the fourth quarter to allow the Cowboys pulled within two.

Brandon Timms, who led McMullen County with 10 points, buried a three to cut the lead to 38-36 with 2:37 left.

But that was as close as the Cowboys would get as Jayton went eight of eight from the line the rest of the way, with Williams hitting six of six, while McMullen County missed on its final four field goal attempts.

CLASS 3A SEMIFINALS

Hitchcock 69, Hooks 36

Hitchcock raced out to an early 12-0 lead and never looked back as the Bulldogs raced past Hooks 69-36 in the first Class 3A state semifinal.

No. 2 Hitchcock (30-7) will play in the 3A title game at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Hooks (32-6), making its first state tournament appearance, just didn’t have an answer for the size and athleticism of Hitchcock and the Hornets struggled to get shots to fall shooting at a 32.4% clip. The Bulldogs shot 50.8% from the field with many coming on slashing drives down the lane that resulted in lay ups.

Hitchcock out rebounded Hooks 42-19. The Bulldogs had 19 offensive rebounds.

Hooks cut the lead to eight, 21-13, on a free throw by Jatavious Johnson with 4:34 left in the second quarter, but Hitchcock followed that with a 12-0 run to close out the half up 33-13. Johnson led the Hornets with 10 points.

Two Bulldogs finished with double doubles. Elijah Sherwood led the Hitchcock with 22 points and 10 rebounds while Lloyd Jones III chipped in 17 points and had a game-high 12 boards.

Damien McDaniel finished with 12 points, five assists and three steals for Hitchcock. McDaniel’s lay up with 3:37 left gave Hitchcock its biggest lead at 67-29.

This is Hitchcock’s fourth state tournament appearance. The Bulldogs were blown out by Brock, 81-52, in the 2003 Class 2A state title game, the only other time they reached the championship game.

Childress 69, Lytle 48

Childress had four players reach double figures in scoring as the Bobcats downed Lytle 69-48 in the second Class 3A semifinal.

Childress (28-7), No. 5 in the final TABC Class 3A state poll, is making its fifth state tournament appearance without a title win so far. The Bobcats, who reached the tournament in 1942, 1944, 1954 and 2015, will face No. 2 Hitchcock (30-7) at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the title game.

Lytle (34-7) had waited 99 years to return to the state tournament after making their first appearance in 1924.

Childress took advantage of Lytle foul trouble early as Pirates’ star player Jordan Balderaz was whistled with his third personal foul at the 3:55 mark of the first quarter with Childress leading 6-3.

Balderaz sat from that point until the start of the third quarter allowing the Bobcats to pull away. Childress led 35-12 at the intermission.

Balderaz led the Pirates with 25.6 points and 12.0 rebounds per game this season.

With Balderaz out, Childress was able to get behind Lytle’s pressing defense for several easy lay ups and ruled the glass, out rebounding the Pirates 43-28.

Lamont Nickleberry was masterful at handling the pressure defense of Lytle. Nickleberry finished with a game-high 18 points, game-hight 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Aiden Allen added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Bobcats with Billy Moore chipping in 15 points and Isaiah Jalomo with 10.

Lytle tried to make a run in the second half, but could never get any closer than 16 points which happened with 43 seconds left in the third quarter.

Chase Guevara had 12 points to lead Lytle with Balderaz and Jaelen Guevara finishing with 11 points each.

CLASS 5A SEMIFINALS

Dallas Kimball 50, San Antonio Veterans Memorial 47

Top-ranked Dallas Kimball and No. 10 San Antonio Veterans Memorial battled back and forth in a game that saw nine ties and 15 lead changes before the Knights prevailed 50-47 in a Class 5A state semifinal thriller on Thursday night at the Alamodome.

Kimball (32-2) advances to the 5A state title game and will face No. 2 Killeen Ellison (38-3) at 3 p.m. on Saturday back at the Alamodome.

The Knights are making their 14th state appearance and third one in a row. Kimball has lost to Beaumont United the past two seasons at the tournament. Thankfully for the Knights, United is in the Class 6A final four instead of in 5A.

Kimball has won state titles six times with most recent coming in 2014.

Veterans Memorial (36-5) was making its first appearance at the state basketball tournament and didn’t look intimidated or at an athletic disadvantage throughout. The Patriots took a 39-37 lead with 7:15 left in the game, but Kimball tied it at 39 on two free throws by Barack Holland a minute later.

Vets cut the lead to one three more times in the final 3:16 of the game and had a chance to tie or win at the end, but a steal by R.J. Osborne of Kimball with two seconds left preserved the win.

Tylar Hankamer led the Knights with 13 points and nine rebounds with T’Johnn Brown adding 10 points.

Demarion Dennis led Veterans Memorial with 16 points and eight rebounds. Gerval Maeweathers chipped in 11 points for the Patriots.

Tyler Cook only scored one point for Vets, but played outstanding defense against the Knights. Cook recorded 10 rebounds, blocked five shots and had three assists and a steal.

This story was originally published March 9, 2023 at 3:44 PM.