BASKETBALL PLAYOFF UPDATE | Troup slips in OT; ETBlitz-area boys playoff schedule for tonight

For many, the high school basketball playoffs begin tonight across East Texas and the ETBlitz.com coverage area.

Troup High School’s Tigers, though, finished up Monday night, unfortunately, with a just-as-close-as-it-sounds 63-62 loss in overtime to Grand Saline at neutral-site Brownsboro High School.

The game was a bi-district, or first-round, contest in the University Interscholastic League’s Class 3A, Division II playoffs.

It almost went the other way, or at least almost went to another overtime.

Braxton Barton hit a three-point shot and an and-one, a foul, that rocked the crowd with .5 – that’s POINT FIVE, not five seconds – left in the game – but the free throw wouldn’t fall, and Grand Saline advances.

Grand Saline’s Indians (18-9) will face either New Diana or Hooks in the area, or second, round.

Caden Graves led Troup with 16 points. Barton had 15.

Coach Darin Harley’s Tigers finish up the season with a 23-8 record.

And six other teams from the ETBlitz.com area hit the court for the playoffs tonight.

Class 4A, Division I playoffs: Kilgore (12-13) vs. Mabank (18-8) at the University of Texas at Tyler Patriot Center, Tuesday night, 6:15 p.m. Kilgore is the home team. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for students, although there doesn’t appear to be a ticket link.

Texas High School Coaches Association passes, senior passes, Texas Association of Basketball Coaches passes and district passes will all be accepted.

For anyone who can’t get free but would like to watch, do it here (NFHSNetwork.com) on NFHSNetwork.com. There is a monthly subscription fee of $12.99, and the first month is due up front – you can cancel afterward.

Coach Jeff Coleman’s Kilgore Bulldogs begin the postseason with a bit of a deceptive record: they finished second overall in District 16-3A behind only Chapel Hill, and split the season series with them. Mabank’s Panthers hit the court tonight winners of five of their last six.

The winner of Kilgore-Mabank will meet either Quinlan Ford (13-17) or Paris (23-6) in round two, the area round, sometime this weekend.

Class 4A, Division II playoffs: Gilmer (13-15) vs. Canton (16-15), Tuesday night, 7:30 p.m., Tyler Junior College’s Floyd Wagstaff Gymnasium. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for students, and can be purchased in advance here: Apache Ticketing – Tyler Junior College.

The Buckeyes have lost their last two coming into the playoffs, and Canton has lost two of its last three, including a 68-40 decision at home to Kennedale last Thursday in the regular season finale.

The season ends for the loser. For the winner: a date with either Pleasant Grove (14-12) or Sunnyvale (17-10) later this week.

The Gilmer-Canton game doesn’t appear to be available on NFHSNetwork.com; if ETBlitz finds the game available streaming somewhere prior to tip-off, we’ll place the link here.

Class 3A, Division I playoffs: Tatum (26-2) vs. Mexia (9-16), Tuesday night, 7 p.m., Lobo Coliseum at Longview High School. Longview ISD is normally cash-free.

Tatum comes in as the District 16-3A champions – unbeaten in district – and without a single loss at home all season.

But it’s time to hit those playoff neutral-site games.

The Eagles have won 12 in a row prior to tonight’s game against Mineola (9-16), who is backing into the playoffs a little bit with two straight losses.

The winner of this game will face either Daingerfield (12-4) or strong Liberty-Eylau (33-0).

Class 3A, Division I playoffs: Arp (16-8) vs. Edgewood (13-5), Tuesday night, 6 p.m., Lindale High School.

Tickets are $6 for adults, $4 for students, online-only purchase and available here:  https://www.lindaleathletics.org/HTtickets. District, THSCA, TABC and senior passes are all accepted.

The game can be heard on KMOO 99.9-FM and online here:  https://www.kmoo.com/.

Edgewood has won six straight as the playoffs begin; Arp finished third in tough 16-3A behind Tatum and Troup, and even had a difficult warm-up game against Overton, a 50-43 loss. But the Tigers have made the playoffs eight times in 10 years.

The winner will meet Mount Pleasant-Chapel Hill, who blasted Redwater, 74-19, on Monday night in Marshall.

Class 3A, Division I playoffs: Sabine (12-20) vs. Malakoff, Tuesday, 6 p.m., Brownsboro High School.

Tickets are $5 and it’s cash-only at the door. Now THAT is old school.

Sabine had to beat a scrappy West Rusk team in a tie-breaking game to punch its final ticket into the 3A-DI postseason, and they did that on Friday, 68-59. Malakoff closed out the regular season with a 69-58 loss to Grand Saline.

Sabine coach Ian Story is in his first season, the former assistant-turned-head-coach.

The Sabine-Malakoff winner will advance to face either Jefferson (25-4) or Atlanta (20-12), who also play tonight – that game is in Hallsville at 6:30 p.m.

Class 2A playoffs: Overton (22-5) vs. Union Grove (20-13), Tuesday, 6:30 p.m., Winona High School. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for students, and Overton is the home team. As with the other locations, passes will be accepted.

The Mustangs have won eight straight, including ending Douglass’ 45-game district win streak, and won the District 22-2A championship. Union Grove won 20 games this year, and has won the last five.

Overton beat UG, 50-38, in Overton back on Dec. 27.

As we mentioned earlier this week, the winner of Overton-Union Grove advances to the area round to meet either Shelbyville (25-3) or Beckville (16-10) – those two teams are playing Tuesday night at 6 p.m. in Center.