Just because the Fort Bend Dulles boys basketball team likes a ball-control offense doesn’t mean they’ll try to slow the game against Chavez Friday night in a 5A Region III semifinal. That’s likely the opposite of how things will transpire, thinks Lobos (28-5) coach Kevin Pullum. “They (Dulles) are very quick and they’re short.

          Tommy Mason-Griffin led the Madison boys basketball team to a 73-64 win against Cypress Springs in a 5A-Region 3 quarterfinal Tuesday night at the Campbell Center. With 25 points, Mason-Griffin guided the Marlins (24-9) to a three-point lead in the first and hit a long three-point basket and the end of the second, for a six-point lead at the half.

          The Yates boys basketball team typically doesn't have trouble beating opponents on the basketball court.

        The first several minutes of Tuesday night's 5A-Region III quarterfinal set the tone for Chavez in more ways than one. The Lobos bolted to a seven-point lead within two minutes on four transition baskets, two of them off steals.

{mp3}080226-StateField{/mp3}    Last year, Cy-Fair’s girls basketball team was in this position. Now the Bobcats find themselves as the 5A state tournament’s proverbial greybeards. Cy-Fair, whose only loss of 2006-07 was in overtime in the state championship game, is the only participant in this weekend’s state tournament in Austin that has been there before. The two Dallas-area semifinalists, DeSoto and Garland Naaman Forest, are newcomers if not surprising qualifiers. But the fastest road to state comes from Converse, a San Antonio suburb that produced the Wagner Thunderbirds (36-1), Cy-Fair’s opponent in Friday’s 3:30 p.m.

  Matchups and times have been determined for the TAPPS boys and girls basketball state tournaments next weekend. The games for Houston-area teams are as follows:   BOYS BASKETBALL 6A at Blossom Athletic Center, San Antonio Semifinals St.

  When a shocking injury struck the Cypress Springs boys basketball team earlier this year, the Panthers came together as a team and rose above it.   Panthers superstar Erik Williams broke his foot during a practice following December’s Houston vs.

    In likely to be one of the toughest games Cy-Fair and Cinco Ranch have encountered this year, the Bobcats and Cougars battled Saturday to represent Houston in the state girls basketball tournament and left it all out on the court.

    With a total of 25 baskets, Josh Bonney of Lamar High School led the Redskins to victory on Friday night against the Taylor Lions, 48-44.  As Bonney fought early on in the 1st quarter sinking most of Lamar’s baskets, he clearly stood out as a threat to the Lions from the beginning. With his consistent efforts, he ended up contributing more than half of the team’s total points and gave the game that edge that kept fans on their feet. Although he was the energy that jumpstarted his team for the ultimate win, it did not at all come easy, for there was another very powerful source that charged the Lions as well.   The junior guard Denzelle Stevenson, from Taylor High, was the secret weapon for his team. He was also the star, which was obvious from the wave of fans that stood up in anticipation and swooped down in unison with each 3-point swish that was made. His team was very connected and read each other perfectly through most of the first half.  The wise passes and quick decisions that almost seemed choreographed are really what made this game so close for them.  In the first half it really looked as if they had the game in the bag, but the 3-point shooting star began to dim as passes were broken and balls stolen.  The second half was when it really started looking like anyone’s ball game as the Redskins could not stop their fouling streak and handed the Lions numerous free throw shots.

    Playing a true road game in the playoffs? No problem for the Chavez boys basketball team.  Friday night the Lobos turned the tables in the end to come out with an 85-78 win at Strake Jesuit in a 5A area round game.  Chavez trailed by 10 to 15 points most of the way until the fourth quarter. But then the Lobos went to a full-court press and things translated on the offensive end.    Jamal Fenton began to find his groove for sinking 3 pointers one after another. It was a steal and 3-point shot he made that finally tied the game 69 to 69 with 3 minutes left in the game. After another 3-pointer and the immense help and baskets made by Jared Maree, they found themselves in the lead and at no better time. With a minute left in the game, Chavez held onto their lead and took the game in the end from Strake Jesuit and sealed the deal with a few needed free throws.

            Tied with Fort Bend Marshall most of the game, Cinco Ranch scored 19 points in the fourth to win 63-50 in the 5A-Region 3 semifinal Friday night at the Campbell Center.

          The Cy-Fair Bobcats expected a tough match up against Dulles and that’s what they got Friday night in the 5A regional semifinal at the Campbell Center. The Bobcats, who ended up winning 66-60, led after every quarter but felt Dulles creeping all 32 minutes.

       The Madison boys basketball team scored 40 points in the fourth quarter to defeat Hastings 82-80 in a 5A area boys basketball game Friday night at Manvel.

          Held to four points in the third quarter Thursday night, the Cypress Springs boys basketball team got exactly the defense it was hoping Bellaire would throw at them. But having scored only six points in almost 15 minutes, all the Panthers needed was shots to start falling. Cy Springs guard Ernest Wafer opened the fourth quarter on a tear, scoring 10 points in the first 3 minutes, 14 seconds and 13 of his game-high 20 in the period to guide the Panthers to a 57-46 win against the Cardinals in a 5A-Region III area game at Delmar Fieldhouse. “They just started playing man-to-man and that’s what we like to play,” said Wafer, a 5-foot-10 senior.

  Briana Gilbreath celebrated one of the biggest victories of her basketball career Tuesday night. In a little more than a month, the entire nation may get to see why the Cinco Ranch senior will play at Southern Cal. Gilbreath, a 6-foot-1 guard, was one of two area players selected Wednesday to the McDonald's All-American Game, scheduled for March 26 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.   The other Houston-area representative will be Cy-Fair forward/center Nneka Ogwumike, who will play collegiately at Stanford. Both will play on the West team. Cinco Ranch and Cy-Fair each advanced to the 5A-Region III tournament, to be held this weekend at the Aldine Campbell Center.

  Pearland and Galveston Ball were no match for Fort Bend's Elkins and Bush in a 5A bi-district doubleheader Tuesday night.

      District 18-5A champs Hastings faced 17-5A Langham Creek in the first round of playoffs Tuesday night at Cinco Ranch.

        The Merrell Center had a great turnout Tuesday night as the Cypress Springs boys basketball team soundly defeated Morton Ranch 72-56 in a 5A-Region III bi-district game.

      The Bellaire boys basketball team’s slow starts last week may have clinched them a winning edge Tuesday night. The Cardinals limped out of the gate twice when Stratford scouted them, but left no doubt against the Spartans in their 5A-Region III bi-district game, sprinting to a 20-point halftime lead and easing to a 60-39 win at the Aldine Campbell Center. “We were flat coming out last week but we talked tonight about coming out with energy and it worked,” Bellaire (26-5) coach Bruce Glover said.

{mp3}080219-BBB-AliefTaylor{/mp3}       The bi-district round of the 5A boys basketball playoffs began Tuesday night as District 18-5A's Alief Taylor defeated District 17-5A's Cypress Ridge, 83-66, at Cinco Ranch.

  Strake Jesuit and Katy Taylor matched up Tuesday night in a 5A bi-district boys basketball game at Stratford.   The favored Crusaders held up their status, cruising to a 70-46 win.   The Mustangs tried to keep up with the Crusaders but were no match.

      Having failed to knock down Bellaire time and again in their 5A-Region III quarterfinal Tuesday night, the Cinco Ranch girls basketball team wasn’t sure whether it was working off energy or adrenaline in the final quarter. The Cougars were sure, though, that the Cardinals would attack the paint in the final seconds and try to send the game to overtime.

        In a dominating fashion, the Cy-Fair girls basketball proved its strength in Region III Tuesday night at the Berry Center by blasting Elsik 60-27 in a regional quarterfinal.   From start to finish, it was all Bobcats (34-2).

    Chavez and Aldine got an early start in the bi-district round of playoffs as they faced off Monday night at the Campbell Center.

{mp3}080218-GirlsBKB{/mp3}    It's possible someone thought of two November girls basketball regular-season games as regional tournament previews, but at least a few participants probably preferred that wasn't the case. Bellaire hoped its 91-47 dismantling of Cinco Ranch on Nov.

        Second Baptist hosted San Antonio St.

As far as the basketball playoff race is concerned, most districts in the Greater Houston area already have its four candidates for the playoffs.   But entering Saturday, that wasn't the case in 20-5A.    Both Lamar and Westbury finished with an 8-8 record, so a tiebreaker game was played at Delmar Stadium Saturday afternoon.

          Knowing Lamar would try to run with them Friday night, the Elsik girls basketball team went to its bread-and-butter to earn a rematch it’s waited for all year. The Rams’ clingy defense caused the Redskins havoc in a 5A area playoff game, and Elsik converted several Lamar turnovers into fast-break points in a pivotal second quarter on its way to a 63-46 win at Alief Taylor. “That’s what we practice day-in and day-out, and after that intensity from the first half led right into the second half,” said Elsik forward Adaora Elonu, who scored a game-high 19 points.

          Two district champions went head-to-head Friday night in the area round of the playoffs for a spot in the regional quarterfinals next week.

  Cypress Ridge defeated Cy-Fair 50-47 Friday night in a boys basketball game that came down to the last 41 seconds.

       “Two down and one to go,” Cy-Fair girls basketball coach Ann Roubique said to her team after Thursday’s 67-43 win over Madison in a 5A area playoff game at the Aldine Campbell Center.

        Playing in the district with a nationally-ranked team has its obvious advantages.

        Most of the time coaches stress playing all four quarters to ensure victories.

        Elsik led by six points at the half, scored 19 in the third, and wound up routing Cypress Falls 58-33 in a 5A bi-district girls basketball playoff game Tuesday night at Katy Taylor. Seven shots were made for 18 points in the first quarter.

        That the Strake Jesuit boys basketball team upstaged once-nationally ranked Cypress Springs to win the District 17-5A championship speaks volumes to the consistent year the Crusaders have enjoyed. But the biggest thorn in the Crusaders' side seems to be that they can't upstage the Panthers when both teams are in the same gym. Cy Springs, which faded from championship contention when star player Erik Williams was lost for the season with a broken foot, remained the only district team to defeat Strake Jesuit, beating the Crusaders 70-63 on Tuesday night in the hosts' first game since clinching the district title four nights before. The Panthers (29-6, 11-5) gained an upper hand early in the fourth quarter when Crusaders (25-6, 13-2) guard Austin Claunch picked up his fourth foul.

  Brittney Griner must have had one eye on the future.   After Nimitz' 6-foot-8 center dunked twice in Monday night's 60-26 win against Westside in a 5A bi-district game at Delmar Fieldhouse, the Baylor commit said of her first dunk: "I guess everyone will be talking about this one."   They will be, and not just in Houston.   Video of Griner's dunks was featured on the front page of Yahoo! Tuesday afternoon, several hours after her efforts put her at No.

            Monday night's bi-district doubleheader at the Aldine Campbell Center concluded with District 20-5A winner Bellaire playing Memorial, the fourth-place finisher from 19-5A.

              The bi-district playoff round of girls’ basketball got underway Monday night as Madison and MacArthur faced off in a 5A first-round game at the Aldine Campbell Center. District 20-5A runner-up Madison defeated MacArthur 61-32 to move on to the area round later this week against either Cy-Fair or Alief Taylor.

        Twenty-four points ahead in the third quarter of her team’s first postseason game, Nimitz center Brittney Griner looked nothing less than outraged. So as she’d done all Monday night and has done most of this season, the 6-foot-8 junior used her height to create an opportunity.

          After its district schedule included Bellaire, Madison and Westside and its non-league schedule featured the likes of 4A power Dickinson, the Lamar girls basketball team entered the postseason unfazed if not steeled. The Redskins attributed much of the poise they showed early and late in Monday night’s 54-52 bi-district upset of 19-5A champion Eisenhower to the previous 32 games, but cautioned they’re hardly finished. “We had to keep doing what we do best – slow the game, keep the tempo in our favor and we came together and we won,” said Lamar’s Krystal Motley, the game-high scorer with 24 points at Delmar Fieldhouse.

{mosimage} Ella Ellis doesn’t stand far out in front of the rest of the Eisenhower boys basketball team. Given his chance to build the Eagles program four years after winning a 4A state championship at Jones, a balance of five strong players instead of one star and four supporting actors is along the lines of what coach Jessie Shelton III is seeking. {mosimage} But Friday night, Ellis found himself in the right place at the right time – just like all his teammates have at some point this season. The 6-foot-6 senior made three of four free throws in the final minute at Stratford, then spearheaded the defensive effort that prevented the Spartans from getting off a would-be game-winning shot in a 63-62 victory.

  Westbury Christian defeated Second Baptist 47-39 Saturday night at Strake Jesuit in the TAPPS District 4-5A basketball tournament championship.

        Leading by one with six seconds to play Friday night at Stratford, the Eisenhower boys basketball team wasn’t quite sure what play the Spartans would devise in hopes of hitting the game-winning basket. The Eagles were confident, however, that Spartans guard Blake Kelting would get the ball somewhere. He ventured a little farther into the paint than Eisenhower guessed, but things worked out perfectly. Kelting got off an airball in the final seconds, Stratford couldn’t get a putback and the Eagles held on for a 63-62 win in front of a frenzied crowd. “They did a good job on the inbound and getting the ball back to him, but I really thought he was going to settle for the jump shot,” Eisenhower coach Jesse Shelton III said.

      As the playoffs are nearing, the teams in the hunt for a spot are playing tight games with exciting finishes.  Friday night’s District 17-5A game between host Cypress Woods (6-8) and Cypress Falls (6-8) was no exception.

            In a game full of fouls and fan outbursts, it was the Katy (9-21, 3-10) boys basketball team that defeated visiting Elsik (14-20, 4-9) 43-39 in a District 18-5A matchup Friday night.

        Wheatley clinched the 19-4A district championship Wednesday night in a 71-68 win over Jones at Barnett Stadium. The Wildcats (26-5, 11-0) were down at the half but turned it on in the fourth to win their 11th district game.

  Even as Memorial's girls basketball team held MacArthur without a field goal for more than six minutes entering the fourth quarter Tuesday night, Mustangs coaches pleaded with their players not to leave Generals guard Denise Duplechin open. "The shooter," they called her. And for good reason. Duplechin scored 11 of her game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter, nine on 3-point shots, powering host MacArthur past Memorial 44-39 in the regular-season finale for both teams. The senior's outburst erased a 29-28 deficit, created when the Generals didn't score for 6 minutes, 23 seconds spanning the third and fourth quarters.

        Heading into Tuesday’s game versus Katy Taylor, Morton Ranch shared District 18-5A’s top spot with Hastings at 10-1.

    With no time left in regulation during the District 19-5A match up between Stratford and Aldine, the Spartans were at the line after being fouled on a three-point attempt.

  Memorial girls basketball coach Bill Cronin prides himself on assembling tough non-district schedules. So when the Mustangs were slow out of the gate this season, neither Cronin nor his players panicked. Eight district wins later, the Mustangs have assured themselves another postseason berth and – perhaps inadvertently – performed a gutcheck in the process. Memorial (14-18 overall, 8-5 district) enters Tuesday night’s game at MacArthur (14-10, 8-5) tied for third in District 19-5A. Tuesday's winner earns the district's third spot for the postseason tournament, the loser the fourth spot. Memorial clinched its playoff berth, its sixth in seven years, by defeating rival Stratford Friday night. "We played some good teams early," Cronin said.