Even after a 21-game win streak to open the season, the Fort Bend Dulles boys basketball team had its share of doubters.

A regional quarterfinal victory against Fort Bend Elkins turned a few heads, as did a semifinal rout of Chavez. Saturday afternoon, the Vikings strutted their balance and dead-eye shooting to the entire area.

Dulles bolted to a 19-point lead, then held off a furious Madison comeback and had to regain the lead in the final five minutes to knock off the Marlins 70-62 in the 5A-Region III final at the Aldine Campbell Center.

Shawn Umeh had 23 points and Abel Galliguez added 20 for the Vikings (33-4), who won a regional championship for the first time.

“We got a lot of confidence from the Chavez game (a 70-42 win here Friday night),” Galliguez said. “We know they play a lot alike. (Chavez) has Jamal (Fenton) and Madison has Tommy (Mason-Griffin), and we know they both like the fast pace.”

Galliguez’s 3-point shooting set the tone in the first quarter. He hit four in a 3-minute span – Umeh added a fifth – for a 21-13 lead.

The Vikings extended a 34-29 halftime lead by opening the third quarter with a 12-0 run. Umeh hit a 3-pointer and made a coast-to-coast layup and Galliguez added a 3 to make it 46-29 halfway through the period.

“It’s a great arena for a shooter,” Galliguez said. “They left me open a couple times and I got down and hit a few shots.”

Then Madison (24-10), which had to score 40 points in the fourth quarter an area playoff game just to extend its season, utilized its press to pull back into the game.

The Marlins ripped off a 19-1 run in only 3 minutes, 37 seconds. Mason-Griffin hit a long jumper and Amechi Ugwu made a layup to pull Madison to 48-45, then Mason-Griffin was fouled on a 3-point try and hit each of his free throws to give the Marlins their first lead since midway through the first quarter.

“Even when we had the 15- or 17-point lead, we knew they’d come back and boy did they come back,” Dulles coach Mike Carrabine said. “If you turn the ball over once or twice (Madison forced four in its game-tying run), it’s ‘Oh boy.’ That’s certainly what happened. They do a great job.”

Mason-Griffin hit two 3’s early in the fourth to peak Madison’s lead at 56-53, but Adrian Kaniyu’s layup with 5:23 left gave Dulles a 57-56 lead.

“It’s that pressure offense that they run, it’s complex and they do it so well,” Madison coach Craig Maura said. “It’s predicated on all of those guys and we haven’t seen it in a game like that. I’ll be surprised if they go to Austin and don’t do well because the offense they run, I don’t think anyone’s seen anything like that.”

Dulles will play in a state semifinal at 3:30 or 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. An opponent is yet to be determined.

Mason-Griffin scored a game-high 24 points for Madison. Richard Brown added 18 and Clarence Shelvin 11.

Umeh made a runner in the final minute for a 66-61 lead, which Dulles hung onto despite shooting only 25-of-40 at the line.

They are the first Fort Bend ISD school to make the state tournament since T.J. Ford-led Willowridge in 2000 and 2001.

“That district we’re in, with Hightower, Elkins and Bush … if they don’t get you ready no one gets you ready,” Carrabine said.

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