Third-quarter rally lifts Hurricanes past Titans
LA PORTE — Hightower coach Stephen Woods counted three layups in the first half of Friday’s Class 5A Region III area round game against Port Arthur Memorial and figured the best adjustments sometimes are the simplest.
The Hurricanes switched from numerous 3-point attempts and long jumpers to slashing into the paint and toward the basket, taking control of Friday’s game via a 20-9 third-quarter advantage before winning 70-57.
The victory lifts Hightower to the regional quarterfinals and cements Port Arthur Memorial’s earliest postseason exit in three seasons.
“We just can’t settle for jump shots,” Woods said of his halftime message to the team. “Third quarter, second half, let’s play our game. Box out, rebounds and run. We started doing that, and the lead went up.”
If highly ranked and high-scoring sophomore guard Bryce Griggs was all the rave about Hightower coming into Friday, then Memorial would match with senior center and Louisiana Tech commitment Kenneth Lofton Jr., who stands at 6-foot-6 and weighs 230 pounds.
Lofton’s impact manifested itself to start the second quarter. After scoring four points and watching Hightower jump out to a 16-9 lead in the first frame, Lofton displayed his versatility with a pair of baseline jumpers to re-energize the Titans and could be heard clamoring for the ball.
Woods said he didn’t want Hightower to shy away from Lofton. He wanted his team to make Lofton uncomfortable by forcing him to his right instead of left and try to nab a few stripped balls when the big man was in the paint. Lofton was a lot to handle no matter what and finished with 24 points.
Memorial started that second quarter on a 9-1 run, and even though Hightower led 30-28 at halftime, Memorial wrestled to a 32-31 lead to open the third quarter.
Nine of the Hurricanes’ 20 third-quarter points came from none other than Griggs. The sophomore star never was on pace to score 46 — like he did against Shadow Creek in district play this season — but he provided more than enough spark on Friday with 25 points.
That included his bucket off a Memorial turnover with 3:40 left in the third quarter. Griggs’ pump fake created enough space for him to weave through Memorial’s defense.
“I was shooting too many deep 3s at the beginning,” Griggs said, repeating his coach. “In the second half, I made my way in the paint and worked my way out, and I saw the results started falling.”
And it wasn’t all Griggs, like it’s often portrayed. Senior Cameron Collins had seven points in that third quarter, too. Collins was in the right spot for an easy lay-in after senior Chris Harris missed a 3point attempt but ended up with the ball back in his hands for the dish to Collins.
Collins also hit a big 3-pointer during the run, which ended at the end of the third quarter with Hightower outscoring Memorial 19-5 advantage since the Titans’ 3231 lead.
Memorial coach Alden Lewis said the game slipping away was self-inflicted.
“It really wasn’t as much Hightower, it was more of us,” Lewis said. “We got away from the game plan that we had in the first half, and they were able to get out in transition and get some easy buckets, which converted offense for them, and that’s what we wanted to eliminate. But that didn’t go our way in the second half.”
La Porte’s arena had been kind to Memorial. The Titans had won at the venue the last two years in the postseason, ousting Shadow Creek both times.
The Titans, who won a state title in 2017-18, miss on what would’ve been a fourth straight regional quarterfinal.
Hightower meets Crosby in the regional quarterfinals. Griggs versus another hot-shooting and rising sophomore in PJ Haggerty will command the headlines.
It’s what the playoffs are made for, Woods said.
“Those are games that the city wants,” Woods said. “The city wanted to see us against P.A. The city wants to see Bryce and PJ go at it. So we’re gonna give them what they want.”