Magic runs out for the Panthers
LUFKIN — The ball didn’t bounce Klein Oak’s way this time.
One day after Daniel Perez’s buzzer-beating shot rattled the rim and dropped in, propelling the unranked Panthers to their first regional final, they couldn’t recapture the magic, instead falling 64-53 to TABC Class 6A No. 16 DeSoto in the 6A Region II championship game Saturday at Lufkin ISD’s Panther Activity Center.
“That’s a great basketball team over there,” Klein Oak coach Josh Ervin said. “But we’re a great basketball team, too, so I tip my hat to our guys. No one expected us to do what we did this year. We exceeded every expectation.
“And I promise — we will all learn from it.”
Klein Oak, the third seed from 15-6A, finished with a 24-12 record.
DeSoto (29-9), which eliminated 16-6A champion Cypress Falls in Friday’s semifinals, advances to the state semis to face Region I winner Dallas Lake Highlands.
The Eagles made only two 3-pointers in their 3430 win over Cy Falls. They didn’t have any trouble converting 3pointers on Saturday, making nine. Arrington Cooper hit four, including a four-point play to start the third quarter up 3925.
Klein Oak made eight 3s, with Bryson Holmes and Isaiah Walker supplying three apiece.
“I watched them (Friday), and I watched a few of their games, and I thought maybe we could back off of them a little bit,” Ervin said.
“But their players came to play, and they hit some big shots.”
DeSoto also reached the free-throw line more often, going 15-of-25. Klein Oak was 9-of-14.
The Panthers didn’t fare as well from the field either, finishing at only 32.7 percent after a hotshooting performance in the regional semis. The Eagles hit 20 of 43 field goals to shoot 46.5 percent, and they went 12of-20 in the first half.
Still, Klein Oak kept the game close early.
It trailed 14-13 after the first quarter and grabbed an 18-14 lead early in the second quarter on a Holmes trey. But DeSoto responded with a 9-0 run capped by Jaxson Davis’ baseline slam for a 26-19 advantage, then controlled the game from there. Klein Oak never was able to pull closer than seven, 60-53, down the stretch.
Holmes led the Panthers — who outrebounded DeSoto 41-31 — with 15 points. Walker had 11.
Davis paced DeSoto with 18 points and five rebounds. Cooper added 13, and DeShawn Crawford came off the bench for nine.
“We’ve got a lot of seniors on this team (10),” Ervin said. “So this is going to carry over for them, for life — just those life lessons of being tough and fighting through everything. These guys did that. And we are going to build on this.”