Buffs’ 18-game winning streak snapped
After more than two months of unblemished play, Fort Bend Marshall finally met its match.
The Buffalos were held to their second-lowest point total of the season and suffered a 66-50 loss against No. 2 state-ranked Killeen Ellison in the Region III-5A championship game Saturday afternoon at the Berry Center.
No. 3 Marshall (35-4) had its 18-game winning streak snapped in the process. Despite the loss, the Buffs accomplished plenty this season under third-year coach Ronnie Courtney, claiming an undefeated district title and making the program’s deepest playoff run since 2017.
“We got outhustled,” Courtney said. “I won’t say from start to finish, but they made more hustle plays than we made. They got more 50-50 balls than we got, and, consequently, they turned those into points. We picked a bad day to have a horrible shooting night, which I was afraid of. But, at the end of the day, nobody expected us to be here, and we’re here. We didn’t do the job we were supposed to do, but I’m really proud of my guys.”
Ellison is headed back to the UIL state tournament for the first time since 1993. That squad lost to Converse Judson in the semifinals, so this year’s team has ambitions of making the deepest run in program history.
“It means a lot,” Ellison coach Alberto Jones said. “Great group of kids that play hard, believe, that do what we tell them to do. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
The Eagles (37-3) will compete in the state semifinals at 7 or 8:30 p.m. Thursday. Matchups will be announced by the UIL on Sunday. The Class 5A title game will be played at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Ellison will arrive at the Alamodome with plenty of momentum after extending its winning streak to 25 games with the triumph over Marshall.
The Eagles have not lost since a 61-60 setback against Coppell in tournament action on Dec. 10.
Oklahoma State signee Jamyron Keller led the way for Ellison, scoring a gamehigh 30 points and overcoming an apparent ankle injury in the third quarter.
Pitts signee Jaland Lowe tallied a team-high 16 points for Marshall in his final high school game.
“Amazing kid,” Courtney said of Lowe, who surpassed 2,000 career points this season. “Amazing accomplishments for the program. Without him, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. He’s going to be sorely missed. That’s a kid you can never replace.”
Ellison held a 29-20 lead at halftime after a strong second quarter that started with three unanswered 3pointers. The Eagles outscored Marshall 15-5 in the period and shot nearly 53 percent from the field in the half.
The Buffs entered the contest averaging nearly 72 points per outing, but buckets were hard to come by against the Ellison zone. Marshall shot just 29.4 percent from the floor for the game.
The Eagles maintained their momentum in the third quarter and entered the final frame with a commanding 42-29 lead. Ellison also got a shot energy after an alley-oop dunk from Deion Ware before the buzzer.
The Eagles had no trouble hanging on from there and kept Marshall at arm’s length the rest of the way to close out the win.
“I thought we executed, and I thought all five guys were locked in together,” Jones said. “I thought we did a pretty good job of slowing down Jaland Lowe because he’s a heck of a player. We thought if we could just slow him down a little bit, we would have a good chance.”