Abilene Wylie enjoys chance to play No. 3 North Crowley in Key City Classic opener
The Wylie Bulldogs had the unenviable task of drawing North Crowley right out the gate Thursday at the Raising Cane’s Key City Classic boys basketball tournament at Cougar Gym.
The Panthers are the defending tournament champs and the No. 3 Class 6A team in the state, and they made it clear that they’re going to be awfully hard to beat this weekend.
Corey Taylor scored a game-high 12 points, and Justin McCray added 11 as North Crowley cruised past Wylie 63-34.
Kamoni Seiber also had 10 points for the Panthers (9-1), who had 11 players score.
Kazion Brown led Wylie (1-6) with 11 points, and Mark Fakhoury scored nine.
While Wylie drew a state powerhouse, tournament hosts Abilene High and Cooper had much easier start
s. The AHS Eagles blasted El Paso Coronado 63-24 at Eagle Gym, while the Cougars romped past El Paso Austin 52-20 at Cougar Gym.
In other tournament games, Keller Timber Creek beat Lubbock Coronado 65-41m No. 8 5A Amarillo High beat Dallas Wilson 49-34m Odessa High beat Plainview 70-47m The Colony beat Midland Legacy 65-41 and Richardson Pearce beat Midland Christian 71-48.
The first two days of the tournament are pool games, and the top teams from each of the four pools will advance to the Gold Bracket on Saturday, while the four pool runner-ups will fill the Silver Bracket. The rest of the teams will play guarantee games.
Doggone good
While some coaches might have preferred a lesser opponent, Wylie coach Gregg Ruffin relished the chance to play one of the best teams in the state.
“For great things to happen, you’ve got to have great opportunities, and that’s a great opportunity to play a really good team,” Ruffin said. “We cherish those times to get to play teams like that, because you learn a lot about yourself. Sometimes, you have games where everything goes right. Today, it just wasn’t that way for us.”
The Panthers took on a Wylie team that’s missing six players right now who are playing football - Harrison Heighten, K.J. Long, Hunter Hood, Malachi Daniels, Derrick Evans and Kendrick Vanderbilt.
Long and Evans were starters last year.
The Wylie football plays No. 1 Argyle at 7 p.m. Friday in a Region I-5A Division II title game in Stephenville. They are two wins away from playing in the state title game Dec. 16 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
It’s the football team’s deepest run since 2016 – two years before the Bulldogs made the jump to Class 5A.
“People always say, ‘Coach, I bet you can’t wait to get your other guys back,’” Ruffin said. “But that’s not the case. Right now, this is what we have, and this is what we’re going with. These guys have been working hard, and they have every chance to have some success. I hope football plays for a while, at least a few more weeks. We’re rooting those guys on, and we’re trying our best right now to fight hard.”
It wasn’t a question of fight against North Crowley. The Panthers were just the better team.
“They’re bigger than we are at every position, and they’re so athletic,” Ruffin said. “You don’t see that every day. We don’t see that in practice every day. So, it’s good for us to see that. We didn’t play fast like we normally do because we’ve got three games left at this tournament. We were trying to save our legs a little bit. It’s a good learning experience for a lot of us.”
And Ruffin is hoping once he gets his other six players from football, some of that success from the gridiron will follow.
“This is the first time in 5A we’ve had to deal with not having our team when basketball starts, but that’s a good thing,” Ruffin said. “That means our football team is having success, and that’s what we want, because hopefully those guys will bring some of that over to us. When you start believing you can do something, that goes a long way. The football guys are believing that again, and when they come over to basketball, I hope they bring that with them.”
Wylie plays Odessa High (10:30 a.m.) and Plainview (3:30 p.m.) in pool play Friday at Eagle Gym.
Coogs stymie Panthers
Kale Sage scored a game-high 15 points, and Jaelyn Rivera added 11 as Cooper won its pool opener over the El Paso Austin.
Kam Gray added 10 for the Coogs (4-2), who led 31-13 at halftime.
Sebastian Morales led the Panthers (5-5) with seven points, and Albert Lugo had four.
Cooper was coming off a 71-62 victory over No. 24 4A Lubbock Estacado on Tuesday in Lubbock.
“Defensively, we played well, but we’ve played well defensively all year,” Cooper coach Bryan Conover said. “We just get out and deny and play hard. But offensively, it got sloppy, played down to their level and didn’t really push the ball and stuff like that. We weren’t real crisp.”
Conover knows that might sound harsh in a blowout win, but he wants the Coogs to play Cougar basketball – regardless of the competition.
“When you have a 32-point win, it sounds like I’m nit-picking,” Conover said. “But I told our guys, ‘We’re striving for greatness. We’re trying to work on us every chance. We can’t go out there and play sloppy. If we go out there tomorrow and play like that, we’ll get beat.’”
Cooper plays Midland Christian (1:30 p.m.) and Richardson Pearce (8 p.m.) to close out pool play Friday at Cougar Gym.
Eagles soar past Thunderbirds
Jake Breckenridge poured in a game-high 21 points – just three shy of matching El Paso Coronado – in the Eagles’ pool opener.
The Thunderbirds hit 10 shots from the field, while AHS hit 12 from 3-point range alone, including four by Breckenridge. Chris Motl also hit three treys and finished with 12 points. DeMarco Upshaw added seven points.
Enrique Castro led the Thunderbirds (3-5) with nine points, and Justin Malooly had seven.
The Eagles (3-5) jumped on Coronado for a 20-4 lead after the first quarter and led 32-8 at halftime.
“We got out to a good start, and we haven’t done that the past couple of games,” AHS coach Justin Reese said. “Our defense fed our offense, and it was good. We played together and we played hard. It was good to see that from our guys.”
Upshaw, a starter last year, and Bryce Neves, a JV player last season, were playing their first games with the basketball team after playing with the Eagles’ football team, which saw its season end last week against Burleson Centennial in the region semifinals.
Both Upshaw and Neves came off the bench in Thursday’s game.
“They helped us a lot,” Reese said. “I thought all our guys played really well. We have a lot of young kids – freshmen, sophomores. Not a lot of kids with a ton of experience coming back. Every game, we get better with more experience.”
AHS plays Midland Legacy (noon) and The Colony (6:30 p.m.) in its final pool games Friday at Eagle Gym.
Raising Cane’s Key City Classic
POOL LINEUPS
Abilene Convention & Visitors Bureau – Keller Timber Creek, Lubbock Coronado, Amarillo High, Dallas Wilson
Star Dodge – Wylie, North Crowley, Plainview, Odessa High
Visiting Angels – Midland Legacy, The Colony, Abilene High, El Paso Coronado
Touching Hearts at Home – Cooper, El Paso Austin, Midland Christian, Richardson Pearce
THURSDAY’S GAMES
At Abilene High
Game 1 – Timber Creek 65, Lubbock Coronado 41
Game 3 – Amarillo High 49, Dallas Wilson 34
Game 5 – Lewisville The Colony 65, Midland Legacy 41
Game 7 – Abilene High 63, El Paso Coronado 24
At Cooper
Game 2 – North Crowley 67, Wylie 34
Game 4 – Odessa High 70, Plainview 47
Game 6 – Cooper 52, El Paso Austin 20
Game 8 – Richardson Pearce 71, Midland Christian 46
FRIDAY’S GAMES
At Abilene High
Game 9 – North Crowley (9-1) vs. Plainview (0-4), 9 a.m.
Game 11 – Wylie (1-6) vs. Odessa High (3-4), 10:30 a.m.
Game 13 – Midland Legacy (0-5) vs. Abilene High (3-5), noon
Game 15 – The Colony (5-4) vs. El Paso Coronado (3-5), 1:30 p.m.
Game 17 – Plainview vs. Wylie, 3:30 p.m.
Game 19 – Odessa High vs. North Crowley
Game 21 – The Colony vs. Abilene High, 6:30 p.m.
Game 23 – El Paso Coronado vs. Midland Legacy, 8 p.m.
At Cooper
Game 10 – Amarillo High (10-1) vs. Timber Creek (5-1), 9 a.m.
Game 12 – Wilson (5-4) vs. Lubbock Coronado (5-2), 10:30 a.m.
Game 14 – Austin (5-5) vs. Pearce (3-3), noon
Game 16 – Cooper (4-2) vs. Midland Christian (8-6), 1:30 p.m.
Game 18 – Timber Creek vs. Wilson, 3:30 p.m.
Game 20 – Lubbock Coronado vs. Amarillo High, 5 p.m.
Game 22 – Midland Christian vs. Austin, 6:30 p.m.
Game 24 – Pearce vs. Cooper, 8 p.m.
SATURDAY’S GAMES
GOLD BRACKET
Game 29 – Star Dodge No. 1 vs. Touching Hearts No. 1, 10:30 a.m. at Cooper
Game 30 – ACVB No. 1 vs. Visiting Angels No. 1, 10:30 a.m. at Abilene High
Championship
Game 36 – Game 29 winner vs. Game 30 winner, 3 p.m., Abilene High
Consolation Championship
Game 29 loser vs. Game 30 loser, 3 p.m., Cooper
SILVER BRACKET
Game 26 – Star Dodge No. 2 vs. Touching Hearts No. 2, 9 a.m., Cooper
Game 27 – ACVB No. 2 vs. Visiting Angels No. 2, 9 a.m., Abilene High
Championship
Game 26 winner vs. Game 27 winner, 1:30 p.m., Cooper
Consolation Championship
Game 26 loser vs. Game 27 loser, 1:30 p.m., Abilene High
GUARANTEE GAMES
Game 25 – Star Dodge No. 4 vs. Touching Hearts No. 4, 9 a.m. Abilene High gym No. 2.
Game 28 – ACVB No. 4 vs. Visiting Angels No. 4, 10:30 a.m., Abilene High No. 2
Game 31 – Star Dodge No. 3 vs. Touching Hearts No. 3, noon, Cooper
Game 32 – ACVB No. 3 vs. Visiting Angels No. 3, noon, Abilene High
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: North Crowley races past Abilene Wylie basketball team at tournament
