Abilene High was the lone local team to survive the first day of the Raising Cane’s Key City Classic unscathed Thursday, opening the annual tournament with a dominant 76-17 victory over El Paso Austin.
Around the Eagles’ win, which earned coach Justin Reese’s squad a 1:30 p.m. Friday matchup against Richardson Pearce, Wylie fell 72-48 to Lewisville The Colony and Cooper saw a furious second-half rally come up just short in a 51-48 loss to Canutillo.
Play in the 16-team tournament will continue through Saturday, culminating with the championship game at 1:30 p.m. at Abilene High and the consolation final at 1:30 p.m. at Cooper. See full first-day results and the complete tournament schedule here.
Eagles sharp in touranment opener
With the game well in hand by the break, the Eagles continued their domination in the second half, outscoring the Panthers 13-4 in the third quarter and 21-2 in the fourth.
AHS (6-1) hit 14 3-pointers in the victory, getting four of those from Brooks Reese, who scored a game-high 18 points. No other Eagles player reached double figures, but Jatyran Smith, Eric Salazar, Josh Melson and Payton Shawver all added nine points.
Connel Colley and Tyson Thompson also contributed to the onslaught, finishing with six and five points, respectively.
No player scored more than five points for Austin, which fell to 2-6 with the loss.
Up next or the Eagles is a Friday afternoon matchup with Pearce, which knocked off El Paso Coronado 52-33 on Thursday. The winner of that game will take on the winner between Dallas Parish Episcopal and North Crowley at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the championship bracket semifinals.
Cooper’s comeback bid comes up short
A slow start on the offensive end was enough to doom Cooper in its opener against Canutillo, as a 21-10 halftime deficit that grew to 15 points in the third quarter proved too much to overcome despite a valiant rally.
Cooper, which was coming off a double-overtime win over a state-ranked Lubbock Estacado team on Tuesday, managed just five points in each of the first two periods against a feisty Canutillo defense. The Cougars were led in the loss by Jordan Willis and Kam Gray with 14 points apiece, while Cayson Lockridge also reached double figures with 10 points.
The Eagles (5-3), meanwhile, got a game-high 19 points from Donovan Mozer and nine points from Jovanni Ortiz.
The Cougars will try to bounce back Friday, when they take on Cleburne at 9 a.m. on their home floor. A win that game would earn Cooper a spot in the consolation semifinals between the winner of Fort Worth Nolan Catholic and Wylie.
The Colony too much for Wylie
After being outscored 20-9 in the second quarter to fall behind 40-25 at halftime, the Bulldogs pulled within 11 early in the third quarter. But the Cougars responded with a prolonged run to stretch their lead to 29 points by the start of the final period.
Thor Grissom led the way for The Colony (8-1), knocking down seven 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 23 points. Four of those 3s came during the Cougars’ game-sealing third-quarter run.
Dakari Spear and Bryce Dixon also scored in double figures for The Colony, adding 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Wylie got a team-high 15 points from Derrick Evans, but Hunter Hood was the Bulldogs’ next-leading scorer with seven points. Shiyloh Fisher added six points and Keegan Anderson had five for WHS, which fell to 2-4 with the loss.
The Bulldogs will try to get in the win column Friday morning, when they take on Nolan Catholic at 9 a.m. at Abilene High’s Eagle Gym for a spot in the consolation semifinals at 3 p.m. Friday at Cooper.