North Shore’s 2nd trip to state worth wait
David Green has coached at the state basketball tournament. He wanted so badly for his North Shore players to get that state experience, too. They all were smiling about that on Saturday afternoon.
North Shore defeated Fort Bend Bush 60-58 in the Class 5A Region III championship game at the Campbell Center to clinch the school’s second trip to the state tournament. The fourth-ranked Mustangs (33-3) will play a semifinal game Friday night at the Erwin Center in Austin.
Green was not with North Shore when it reached state in 1997, but he led Hightower there in 2011. In his third year with North Shore — all 30-win seasons — he finally gets to coach his Mustangs at the University of Texas.
“Now they get a chance to go see what it’s all about in Austin,” Green said. “This was great, but I told them Austin is even greater because it’s on the big stage.”
North Shore got the best of Saturday’s backand-forth game. The Mustangs opened the fourth quarter with the lead, but Bush (30-6) jumped ahead for about two minutes with the Broncos’ best moment coming on a Brandon Jones three-point play that gave Bush the lead with three minutes to go.
“We thought we could wear them down by the fourth quarter and be up by double digits,” Green said. “It never happened. Then we had to dig down deeper, get some steals and get the lead back.”
Bush’s lead was shortlived. North Shore’s Kerwin Roach (20 points) responded with a three- point play of his own to tie the game on the next possession.
The Mustangs took the lead for good when Jalin Hart (12 points) did the same with two minutes to go. After two Hart free throws gave North Shore a 58-55 lead with 35 seconds left, Bush missed its next shot, and North Shore scored to put it away.
Roach said the Mustangs have been talking all season about winning a state title. Now they’re headed to the place where it will be decided.
“We fight, fight, fight every day,” Hart said. “This is what we’ve been waiting for a long time.”
Bush’s wait wasn’t quite as long.. The Broncos lost to Fort Bend Tra- vis in last year’s regional championship game.
“It’s a positive for the program,” coach Ronnie Courtney said. “The other kids can come in and see what’s been going on the last few years. I have a lot of good kids coming back, but when you get a moment like this, you have to seize the moment and take advantage of the opportunity. We didn’t do that.”