State tickets punched
Dickinson, Hightower, Yates boys win Region III titles.
Tramon Mark wanted the ball in his hands in the decisive fourth quarter on Saturday afternoon.
The senior forward went to the free throw line with 11 seconds left in the game with Gator nation on their feet cheering.
He wasn’t nervous as he stepped to the line and it was a moment that Mark was prepared for.
“I had to seal it for my team and my community,” said a smiling 6-foot-5 Mark. “Every time I went to the free throw line, I tried to knock in all my free throws and that’s what I did.”
Mark knocked down both free throws as the Gators went on to defeat Bellaire 70-61 in the Region III-6A final at the Berry Center.
Mark led the Gators (33-5) with 41 points, which was his second 40-point game at the Region III-6A tournament. The University of Houston signee scored 40 points in the 83-69 win over Katy Morton Ranch on Friday.
The Gators are headed to the state tournament for the first time in 65 years.
The last time Dickinson was in the state tournament was in 1954-55 when the school was in the Class 1A division.
Bellaire ends the season 29-7.
Duncanville (Region I), Wylie (Region II), San Antonio Brandeis (Region IV) won all of their respective Class 6A regional tournament.
The state tournament bracket will be released on Sunday.
The Class 6A state semifinal games will be at 7 and 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, with the championship game at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
Dickinson coach Jason Wilson can remember talking to his team at the beginning of the season and this is where the Gators wanted to be.
“This was the expectation,” Wilson said. “This was the vision the senior group set out to do it and they accomplished this, I’m so proud of them. Words can’t express how I feel on accomplishing this for the team, for the community and for our school. This is unbelievable.”
Mark and his teammates celebrated with the fans after the game, who were the sixth man from the stands.
The seniors, along with the rest of the Gators, made their goal come true this season, but now there’s a new goal of bring home a state title.
“We have been talking about it all season and for us to come out an actually do it, that’s what makes us different,” Mark said about reaching the state tournament. “We’re happy to come out and later we will be riding to the Alamodome.”
Dickinson worked for its trip to the state tournament going against a hard-working Bellaire squad.
The Gators came into the fourth quarter leading the Cardinals 52-45.
Mark went 10 of 11 from the free-throw line and scored 13 of the Gators’ 18 points in the fourth quarter.
After Mark knocked down a 3-pointer, which was his only field goal in the fourth quarter, the Cardinals went on a 7-0 run to cut the Gators lead to three after Bellaire’s Jaylon Calvin finished off a 3-point play with 2:32 left in the game.
“That’s a 30-win team,” Wilson said. “it would be sadly mistaken to think they were a pushover. They won 30 games for a reason. They beat a very good Summer Creek team last night and so we already knew we were going to be up for a 32-minute war.”
Lawrence was fouled when he attempted a 3pointer and knocked all three of the free throws down to cut Dickinson’s lead to 61-59 with 1:30 left in the game.
Bellaire got within two again when Calvin knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:30 left in the game, but those were the final points for the Cardinals this season.
Lawrence finished with a team-high 22 points, while Tyrell Palmer added 14 points and Calvin scored 14 points for the Cardinals.
Mark thought that Bellaire gave the Gators a grind out game that wasn’t easy.
“They gave us a good run definitely all four quarters,” Mark said. “We came out and got the dub for our community.”
Bellaire coach Bruce Glover was proud of what his team had accomplished this season.
The Cardinals were in the regional final for the first time since 2009-2010 and in the regional tournament for the first time since the 20122013 season.
Dickinson just was a tough much for a Bellaire team that played with a lot of heart.