EAGLES CRUSH JEFFERSON | Tatum advances to state semis Tuesday in Mansfield vs. Iowa Park
EDITOR’S NOTE: UPDATES WITH PLAYOFF INFORMATION!
TYLER – It seems only fitting tonight that we think of the words of the legendary, late Gene Hackman, as villainous Lex Luthor in Superman II: “I never thought this thing would go the distance.”
We didn’t either, and we were right.
Tatum, redefining what basketball success is here in East Texas, continued its dominating run through the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Class 3A, Division I boys basketball playoffs on Friday, here at the University of Texas at Tyler’s Patriot Center.
Tatum swarmed all over Jefferson, leading 28-2 at one point, and turned what many thought would be a classic into a laugher, as coach Brett Carr’s Eagles ran the floor and flexed their muscles all the way to a 70-42 win, their 17th straight (check out the gallery from the game by Alex Nabor right here: TATUM EAGLES GALLERY! | The win over Jefferson in photos / By ALEX NABOR).
That means Tatum – with a 30-2 overall record – avenged one of its two losses this season; booted Jefferson from the playoffs; and more importantly, the Eagles have advanced to the 3A-DI state semifinals.
Their opponent there will be Iowa Park, who edged Presidio, 48-41, on Friday night in Midland.
Iowa Park is now 27-8 and has a 14-game winning streak of its own.
Tatum and Iowa Park will meet Tuesday at Mansfield Lake Ridge High School, a 7 p.m. tip-off. The prize: a trip to the UIL State Basketball Championships at The Alamodome in San Antonio later next week.
The address for Mansfield Lake Ridge is 101 N. Day Miar Road, Mansfield, Texas 76063
Against Iowa Park, Tatum will be the visiting team.
As soon as the Tatum-Iowa Park game details are finalized, we’ll have them here on ETBlitz.com.
Against Jefferson, Jordan Chambers had 20 points to lead the Eagles, who took away all doubt as to who would be the winner in the first half, going to halftime with a 43-19 win.
Luke Sigler and Cooper Whiteus each had 16 points for Tatum, and JaCorie Bradley had 14. Caydem Tatum had four. Avery Lawson scored nine to lead Jefferson, who ends its season with a 28-5 record.
Let’s look at the Eagles’ scorecard, so to speak, their track record, so far this year.
- A District 16-3A championship.
- No losses on their home court (13-0).
- Two losses all season: one to Jefferson in double overtime back on Dec. 10, and one to Kountze on Dec. 28, by one point – that was Tatum’s last loss.
- A bi-district (round one) playoff win over Mineola at Longview’s Lobo Coliseum, where the Eagles just cruised – and crushed the Yellow Jackets, 77-48.
- A second, or area, round win over Liberty-Eylau in Pittsburg, 69-53, where the final score was not really indicative of how Tatum dominated the contest, especially in quarters two and three. L-E was undefeated coming into that game. They were definitely defeated at its end.
- A 20-point win over Ponder (73-53) on Tuesday night at Caddo Mills, another where an opponent put up a fight early, only to see Tatum’s athleticism just take over.
- And Friday night in Tyler, where Jefferson was supposed to, at the very least, put up a fight. They were on their heels the entire game.