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State-ranked teams showcasing their talents at Invitational
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| When your big brother is pictured in the one-and-only McDonald's Texas Invitational 128-page program that means a lot to these three young Corpus Christi Carroll High School fans. Peyton Smith, 9, points out brother Bryce Smith in the Tigers' team picture as 6-year-old sister Whitney and 13-year-old Trevor look on. Bryce, a sophomore, is the youngest player on the Tigers' roster this season. But basketball runs in this family. Their dad, Mark Smith, has a local connection. He played for South Houston High School in 1981 under the direction of head coach Scott Gernander. Their grandfather is Boyce Honea, the former Millby head coach who guided the Buffalos to 739 wins and 20 playoff berths before retiring earlier this decade. Boyce, who now makes his home in Corpus, joined his grandchildren in watching Bryce play Pasadena in a Division II Bronze bracket game Friday, won by Carroll 70-37. |
By ROBERT AVERY
They advertised it as a showdown of state-ranked high school basketball teams and that’s exactly what the sixth annual McDonald’s Texas Invitational has given local hoops fans this weekend.
This year’s Division I Boys’ Gold Bracket championship game at Phillips Field House Saturday night pitted Duncanville against San Antonio Madison, the state’s No. 1 and No. 3 preseason-ranked clubs according to Texas Basketball Magazine.
En route to reaching the televised contest, the two tossed aside fellow state-ranked ballclubs North Crowley (No. 2), which dropped a 66-64 semifinal decision to Madison Friday night and No. 12 Kingwood fell to Duncanville 30-23 in overtime in the other semifinal.
North Crowley opened its Gold bracket play by belting Pearland 76-54 and Duncanville romped to an 87-40 win over Atascocita. Madison began
Klein Collins, the defending tournament champs, was deposited to the Division I Silver bracket after going 1-1 in Thursday’s pool play. As of presstime, it was battling for third place versus Fort Bend Bush. The championship game that was played at Memorial High School was sending Alief Taylor opposite Mansfield-Summit.
Play in the Division I Bronze bracket had La Porte against Alief Elsik for all the marbles. College Park, ranked 26th by the magazine, was struggling with a 1-3 record. It was facing Kempner for Bronze’s third place.
As for the local camps, the hopes of wrestling some tourney hardware rested on the shoulders of Sam Rayburn, Dobie and South Houston.
South Houston opened Division II Bronze play with a 53-37 win over J.J. Pearce, but lost to Cinco Ranch in the semifinals 59-52. South Houston opposed Humble for third place. On the other side of the Bronze bracket, Sam Rayburn lost to Humble 54-36, but topped rival Pasadena Memorial 66-54 at Dobie High School Friday night.
Sam Rayburn faced J.J. Pearce in the consolation finals Saturday. Memorial absorbed a 1-4 tournament record after going 0-3 in the Bronze bracket. The Mavs fell to Houston Westside Saturday afternoon 64-57 for their fourth loss.
In the Rayburn-Memorial contest, Josh Martinez, who continues to get better with each game, scored 25 points, while Bryan Delao added 21 and Nemo Sanchez scored nine. Willie Waddell scored 15 points in the losing cause.
Sam Rayburn employed a 14-4 first half-ending tear to erase a 21-20 deficit, grabbing a 34-25 lead. Martinez erupted for 12 of his 25 points in that spree, scoring seven straight at one point.
Memorial would cut it to six points with the onset of the second half, before Rayburn went on a 13-3 romp. The Mavs were 3-of-8 from the foul stripe, while Rayburn burned the Mavs defense with three 3-point goals.
Rayburn only trailed Humble 15-10 in the second period, before the Wildcats outscored the Texans 16-5. Rayburn would get it inside ten points early in the fourth, but no closer as Humble went on a victory-clinching 10-0 romp.
Pasadena owned a 0-4 record going into a meaningless game against Dickinson Saturday afternoon. The team fell to Corpus Christi Carroll 70-37 and Alvin 62-52 on Friday.
“The preseason is just an opportunity to get better for our district. We have such a tough district. It’s not a cakewalk. That’s why we come to this tournament,” Carroll head coach Marty Bell said. “Pasadena ISD does such a good job with this tournament. We had a pretty good pool draw yesterday. We just didn’t get it done. I know the coach over here is fighting uphill as far as the kids he has and what not. It’s just a good chance for us to work on some things and give kids who don’t get a lot of game time to get some game time.”
Carroll went on to lose its semifinal game to Jersey Village 69-51. Smithson Valley was its opponent for the title game.
Dobie faced Channelview in the Division II Gold bracket consolation finals, while Dallas Hillcrest met Huntington, La. In the title game, Dobie defeated Galena Park 82-74 Friday night, but lost to the Louisiana school 62-52.
This year’s Division I Boys’ Gold Bracket championship game at Phillips Field House Saturday night pitted Duncanville against San Antonio Madison, the state’s No. 1 and No. 3 preseason-ranked clubs according to Texas Basketball Magazine.
En route to reaching the televised contest, the two tossed aside fellow state-ranked ballclubs North Crowley (No. 2), which dropped a 66-64 semifinal decision to Madison Friday night and No. 12 Kingwood fell to Duncanville 30-23 in overtime in the other semifinal.
North Crowley opened its Gold bracket play by belting Pearland 76-54 and Duncanville romped to an 87-40 win over Atascocita. Madison began
Klein Collins, the defending tournament champs, was deposited to the Division I Silver bracket after going 1-1 in Thursday’s pool play. As of presstime, it was battling for third place versus Fort Bend Bush. The championship game that was played at Memorial High School was sending Alief Taylor opposite Mansfield-Summit.
Play in the Division I Bronze bracket had La Porte against Alief Elsik for all the marbles. College Park, ranked 26th by the magazine, was struggling with a 1-3 record. It was facing Kempner for Bronze’s third place.
As for the local camps, the hopes of wrestling some tourney hardware rested on the shoulders of Sam Rayburn, Dobie and South Houston.
South Houston opened Division II Bronze play with a 53-37 win over J.J. Pearce, but lost to Cinco Ranch in the semifinals 59-52. South Houston opposed Humble for third place. On the other side of the Bronze bracket, Sam Rayburn lost to Humble 54-36, but topped rival Pasadena Memorial 66-54 at Dobie High School Friday night.
Sam Rayburn faced J.J. Pearce in the consolation finals Saturday. Memorial absorbed a 1-4 tournament record after going 0-3 in the Bronze bracket. The Mavs fell to Houston Westside Saturday afternoon 64-57 for their fourth loss.
In the Rayburn-Memorial contest, Josh Martinez, who continues to get better with each game, scored 25 points, while Bryan Delao added 21 and Nemo Sanchez scored nine. Willie Waddell scored 15 points in the losing cause.
Sam Rayburn employed a 14-4 first half-ending tear to erase a 21-20 deficit, grabbing a 34-25 lead. Martinez erupted for 12 of his 25 points in that spree, scoring seven straight at one point.
Memorial would cut it to six points with the onset of the second half, before Rayburn went on a 13-3 romp. The Mavs were 3-of-8 from the foul stripe, while Rayburn burned the Mavs defense with three 3-point goals.
Rayburn only trailed Humble 15-10 in the second period, before the Wildcats outscored the Texans 16-5. Rayburn would get it inside ten points early in the fourth, but no closer as Humble went on a victory-clinching 10-0 romp.
Pasadena owned a 0-4 record going into a meaningless game against Dickinson Saturday afternoon. The team fell to Corpus Christi Carroll 70-37 and Alvin 62-52 on Friday.
“The preseason is just an opportunity to get better for our district. We have such a tough district. It’s not a cakewalk. That’s why we come to this tournament,” Carroll head coach Marty Bell said. “Pasadena ISD does such a good job with this tournament. We had a pretty good pool draw yesterday. We just didn’t get it done. I know the coach over here is fighting uphill as far as the kids he has and what not. It’s just a good chance for us to work on some things and give kids who don’t get a lot of game time to get some game time.”
Carroll went on to lose its semifinal game to Jersey Village 69-51. Smithson Valley was its opponent for the title game.
Dobie faced Channelview in the Division II Gold bracket consolation finals, while Dallas Hillcrest met Huntington, La. In the title game, Dobie defeated Galena Park 82-74 Friday night, but lost to the Louisiana school 62-52.
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