Mansfield Summit’s first state tournament trip ends in a semifinal loss to Killeen Ellison

Time after time late in the game the Killeen Ellison boys basketball team left the door open just enough for Mansfield Summit to come back.

And each time the Eagles responded.

Summit’s first ever trip to the state basketball tournament ended in heartbreak after a controversial call cost the Jaguars a chance to tie or go ahead as Ellison escaped the Alamodome with a 52-50 win on Thursday night in the Class 5A state semifinals.

Ellison (38-3), ranked No. 2 in the state in the final TABC Class 5A poll, will face No. 1 Dallas Kimball (32-2) at 3 p.m. on Saturday in the championship game back at the Alamodome. Kimball squeaked by San Antonio Veterans Memorial 50-47 in the first semifinal.

The Eagles are making their second state appearance with the first coming 30 years ago in 1993. That year Fort Worth Dunbar won its first title on its tenth try at state.

No. 11 Summit (34-5) closed to within five points of the Eagles four times in the fourth quarter, only to see Ellison push the lead back from seven to nine points.

“We knew that it wasn’t going to be easy,” said Ellison coach Alberto Jones. “I knew they were going to make a run, because I knew that they were going to play for 32 minutes. They have a lot of pride over there.

“I know [Summit coach] Emund [Prichett] personally and I know how hard he works, how hard his teams play, and how disciplined and sound they are. There was no doubt that it was going to be a dog fight.”

The biggest swing of the quarter happened after Summit’s David Terrell made one of two free throws to cut the Ellison lead to 45-40 with 2:43 left in the game.

A missed jumper by the Eagles was then rebounded by the Jags’ Franck Emmou who hit a wide open Jesse Warner down court. Warner looked to have an easy, wide-open lay up, but Ellison’s Jamyron Keller came out of nowhere to block the shot.

Keller, who scored 15 points, then hit a jumper on the other end so a possible 45-42 game turned into a 47-40 advantage for the Eagles with 2:10 left.

Terrell, who led the Jaguars with a game-high 17 points, eight rebounds and two assists, fouled out with 1:14 left, but Summit still had enough weapons to make another push.

A lay up by Summit’s Richard Lemboye with 55 seconds left cut the lead to 51-46. Then after Ellison missed the front end of a one-and-one, Emmou hit a jumper to cut the lead to 51-48 with 29 ticks left.

Lemboye finished with 14 points with Emmou recording 13 points and five assists.

Another missed one-and-one by Ellison was turned into a high flying dunk by Lemboye with 16 seconds remaining. After pulling to within 51-50 the Jags had trouble committing a foul, but finally did with seven seconds left.

Keller missed both free throws, but as Emmou was heading up court he was whistled for stepping out of bounds as a defender pressured him along the sideline on a call that could have gone either way.

“I would assume that everybody was doing their best job,” said Prichett. “It just didn’t go in our favor.

“I knew we were going to continue to fight. One thing that we’re never going to do is give up. We always play as hard as we can and gave it our best shot, but we just came up short.”

Summit started strong jumping out to 12-6 lead before Ellison went on a 5-0 run in the last 37 seconds of the first quarter to cut the lead to 12-11.

The Jaguars built a 19-14 lead midway through the second quarter, but Summit failed to score for the final 4:59 of the period allowing Ellison to go up 22-19 at the break. Summit missed its last six field goal attempts of the second quarter in addition to committing three turnovers.

The Jaguars tied the game at 22 on a three pointer by Derrick Brown to open the third quarter, but wasn’t able to regain the lead the rest of the way. Deion Ware scored 13 of his team-high 16 points in the third quarter for the Eagles.

“It was a great game, a very tough and physical game,” said Prichett. “I couldn’t ask anything more from my kids, they gave everything they had.”

Terrell, a University of Texas at El Paso signee, cherishes the time he’s been able to play with Lemboye, his close friend since the second grade, and the rest of his Jaguar team mates.

“I love being with them and I feel like we’re going to have a connection all throughout our lives even when basketball isn’t there,” said Terrell. “I love them and wouldn’t trade them for the world.”

Prichett said he would also miss his three top scorers in Lemboye, Emmou and Terrell, and fellow senior Jeffery Scott not only for their prowess on the court, but also for the way they work, lead and encourage the younger players on their team.

“They are the program and they’re why we’re where we’re at,” said Prichett. “I don’t know what we’re going to do without them, but I’m sure that they’ve taught some lessons that are going to propel us to be able to come back here.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2023 at 3:11 AM.