KILGORE ADVANCES! | Bulldogs weather storm, hold off Mabank in Tyler

TYLER – When Dre’ Sanders hit a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left Tuesday night in a playoff game here against Mabank, every Kilgore fan in the stands at the Patriot Center took a deep breath.

And they probably held it until 10 seconds later, when Jayden Sanders grabbed a rebound, got fouled with less than a second left on the clock and hit two more from the line, allowing the Kilgore High School Bulldogs to sink Mabank, 56-51.

Five other teams in the ETBlitz.com coverage area had playoff games tonight, and we’ll have information on them as soon as we can.

For now, Kilgore-Mabank.

Kilgore had its moments along the way – two questionable blocking fouls called on Bi’Syn Williams and on Cooper Shipman, specifically – but the Bulldogs survived the Panthers in here at the University of Texas at Tyler in this University Interscholastic League (UIL) Class 4A, Division I first-round battle: the bi-district round, as it’s called, and they’ve advanced to round two, or the area playoffs.

This round, sometime this weekend, Kilgore will face either Quinlan Ford (13-17) or Paris (23-6). Those two were to play Tuesday night, as well, at Caddo Mills High School.

Kilgore is 13-13 now, not that it matters – really, when the playoffs start, everyone is 0-0.

The Bulldogs let Mabank sprint out to a 13-0 advantage in the first quarter Tuesday, with Mabank practically gobbling up rebounds as if basketball were a Pac-Man game in the first quarter.

Then Jayden Sanders and Javon Towns hit a pair of shots, Sanders knocking down a long three-pointer with 39 seconds left in the quarter. Towns swiped the ball, a steal, then took it the length of the court for a basket to cut it to 13-7.

The Panthers did knock down a shot for a 15-7 lead by the end of the quarter, but Kilgore had sliced the lead in half.

Mabank came out firing – specifically, Luke Carter and Luke Lawrence – hitting a pair of three’s to get the Panthers back up by eight (18-10). They’d stay up by eight, of varying degrees, but Kilgore weathered the storm again. Towns hit a three of his own with 3:26 left in the half, then Jayden Sanders, Kilgore’s University of Michigan signee in football, hit another with 2:50 left. That one cut it to a two-point lead for Mabank (24-22).

Jamarian Duncan Morgan hit a two with 1:17 left to tie things at 24-all, and Towns – up to his old tricks – grabbed another steal, scoring at the other end to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game, 26-24.

Mabank’s Carter Sims, who along with Luke Carter were thorns in Kilgore’s side all night, got the last shot in, though: a three-pointer that put Mabank back in front, 27-24, and that was the halftime score.

Luke Carter’s three with about five minutes to play in the third quarter, then another basket he scored with 3:50 left in the third, gave Mabank a seven-point lead, the largest lead the Panthers would enjoy in the second half.

But Towns, who Mabank fans likely wanted out of the gym by this point, swished another three-pointer and got the ‘Dogs within four, 36-32.

Defensively, though, something was happening. Bi’Syn Williams picked up his third foul with 3:30 left in the third quarter, then his fourth with 30 seconds left in the quarter.

Mabank was clinging to a lead for dear life, 38-35, at the start of the fourth quarter. And shortly after that, just after Towns gave Kilgore a one-point lead, Luke Carter was driving to the hoop for Mabank and looked to be called for a charge.

No.

Officials ruled Williams committed a blocking foul and Williams had fouled out of the game with 6:29 left.

But that wouldn’t be the last time in the game that would happen. More on that in a second.

With Kilgore up by three, Sims hit yet another Panthers’ long-distance shot to tie things with just under four minutes left.

Duncan Morgan got a steal and got the ball to Towns, who scored and broke the tie, giving Kilgore a lead with 4:54 left – as it turned out, the Bulldogs would not relinquish that lead the rest of the game, but boy, it was close.

Jayden Sanders hit a bucket with 4:44 left that made it 45-41 Kilgore, and Mabank took a time out.

When play resumed, Sims hit a bucket to get the Panthers within two.

But Kayson Brooks, as he did all of football season as the Bulldogs’ quarterback, did a little quarterbacking on the court. He grabbed the ball, found Cooper Shipman down court, and got the ball to him. Shipman nailed the shot, drew the foul and hit the free throw – a three-point play – that gave the Bulldogs a 48-43 lead.

The Panthers then began the Hack-A-Shaq strategy that NBA teams used to use on Shaquille O’Neal: fouling Kilgore intentionally and sending the Bulldogs to the line.

Shipman hit one of two, with 2:10 left.

Brooks missed a pair with 1:51 left, and trouble: Towns picked up his fourth foul with 1:40 left.

Jayden Sanders finally gave Kilgore a little breathing room, hitting one of two free throws with 1:33 left that put the ‘Dogs up by five, 50-45.

Towns fouled out with about a minute left, and Kilgore was then without one of its best offensive weapons in the game. This time, KHS would rise to the occasion. It’d be tight, though.

Mabank kept intentionally fouling, and Kilgore wasn’t hitting its free throws. But Mabank, when given the opportunity, also missed some from the line.

 With 13.9 seconds left, another touch-and-go call: Shipman, who looked to have his feet set, was called for a blocking foul, similar to the one that booted Bi’Syn Williams from the game, and Sims went to the line for Mabank.

He hit one of two free throws, and the Panthers were down just one point, 52-51, with those 13.9 seconds left.

But they fouled Dre’ Sanders, and Sanders made them pay, knocking down not one but both shots from the line.

When Sims brought the ball back down court, Mabank trailed 54-51 – they needed a three, but Sims took a two, for some reason. It missed, and Jayden Sanders rebounded the ball.

He was fouled, hit both shots, and sent Mabank into the offseason, with an 18-9 overall record.

These final numbers were done quickly, now, but this is what ETBlitz.com had.

For Kilgore, Jayden Sanders had 20 points, four steals, three rebounds and an assist. JT, Javon Towns, finished with 18 points, four steals, two rebounds and an assist.

Shipman and Brayden Williams each had six points: Shipman had a steal and Williams had four rebounds.

Duncan Morgan had four points, two rebounds and a steal. Dre’ Sanders had two points and a rebound. Bi’Syn Williams had seven rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot.

As soon as the arrangements of whom, when and where – the details – for that area game involving Kilgore and either Paris or Quinlan Ford are set, we’ll have them here on ETBlitz.com.