Boys basketball playoffs: Fourth-quarter flurry pushes Kimball past Wakeland; Duncanville beats Sachse

 PLANO, TX– Through three quarters in their game against Frisco Wakeland on Wednesday, Kimball’s Jayden Blair and Deonte Greer had games that could have been better.

When it came to the fourth quarter however, it could not have gone much better for them.

Blair and Greer scored eight points apiece in the fourth, leading a final-quarter flurry as Kimball rallied for a 69-63 win in a Class 5A area-round playoff game at the Berkner High School gymnasium.

After trailing for the majority of the game, Kimball opened the fourth quarter with a 12-1 run to go ahead 54-52. A breakaway steal and layup by Blair gave Kimball a 52-51 lead, and the Knights never trailed again. A putback by Greer gave Kimball its 54-52 edge, and the Knights led the rest of the way.

Wakeland closed within 56-55 on a free throw by Virginia Military Institute signee Cooper Sisco with 3:22 left, but Chauncey Gibson countered with a running shot and would add two free throws with 1:22 remaining to give Kimball a 64-57 edge.

Free throws were a major factor in favor of Kimball, which finished 24 for 30 (75 percent) for the game. Kimball was 14 for 16 in the fourth quarter, with Blair going 6 for 6 to cap a 14-point, four-steal game. Wakeland was 5 for 14 (35.7 percent) on free throw attempts.

Kimball (20-10), ranked No. 12 in the TABC 5A state poll, advances to a Region II quarterfinal against rival South Oak Cliff. It’s the 12th time since 2007 Kimball has advanced to the regional quarterfinal round.

Wakeland (23-4), ranked No. 18 in the state, dropped to 0-5 all-time in area playoff games.

Wakeland used a 10-4 run at the end of the second quarter to take a 31-25 halftime lead. Wakeland forward Drake Kindsvater had six of his 12 first-half points in the run and would lead the Wolverines with 21 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Sisco finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Quincy Adams had 11 points and seven rebounds for Wakeland.

Greer finished with 12 points. Kimball’s leading scorer, Arterio Morris, had 11 points, nine in the first half. Gibson finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Duncanville 61, Sachse 51: Three-star SMU signee Zhuric Phelps scored 19 points, and five-star sophomore forward Ronald Holland added 14 points as the state’s second-ranked team advanced to the 6A Region II quarterfinals. The 6-7 Holland is the state’s No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2023.

Cameron Barnes, a 6-10 sophomore, had five blocks to lead the Duncanville defense. Duncanville (24-1) will await the winner of Thursday’s game between Garland and Mansfield.

South Grand Prairie 70, Denton Braswell 47: Jordan Roberts hit five 3-pointers and scored 29 points to lead SGP to the area-round playoff rout.

South Grand Prairie (21-0), ranked No. 4 in the state in 6A, advanced to play third-ranked Richardson in the 6A Region I quarterfinals. Terin Johnson added 12 points, six rebounds and five blocks for SGP, and Jaden Flournoy had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Richardson 63, Flower Mound Marcus 42: Four-star junior guard Rylan Griffen made four 3-pointers and No. 3 Richardson blasted No. 20 Flower Mound Marcus in an area-round matchup of state-ranked 6A teams.

Five-star junior guard Cason Wallace had 22 points, 12 rebounds and four assists for Richardson.

North Crowley 39, Odessa Permian 38: North Crowley’s Bryan Thomas got a piece of a last-second Permian shot, and his block allowed the state’s 10th-ranked 6A team to survive a huge scare in the area round of the playoffs.

Malik Clinton led North Crowley (28-1) with 11 points, and he scored six in the fourth quarter. CJ Williams added 10 points. North Crowley will next play District 4-6A champion Trophy Club Byron Nelson, which beat Abilene 64-48 on Wednesday.

Lancaster 78, Frisco Heritage 58: Four-star Texas A&M signee Wade Taylor IV had 15 points, four assists and four steals as the state’s top-ranked 5A team dominated its area-round playoff game.

Chrisdon Morgan was a force inside, finishing with 12 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks for Lancaster (24-4). Markeis Sykes and Western Kentucky signee Elijah Hughey scored 11 points apiece, and they combined for 13 rebounds.

South Oak Cliff 46, Lovejoy 44: South Oak Cliff rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit as Antonio Patterson scored 17 points and SOC held Lovejoy to six points in the fourth quarter. Lovejoy missed a pair of shots in the final seconds that could have tied the score.

Mansfield Timberview 48, Birdville 37: Chendall Weaver scored 20 points as Timberview advanced to the regional quarterfinals for the sixth consecutive season and extended its winning streak to 13 games.

Cameron Taylor added five points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals for Timberview (21-3). Timberview hasn’t lost a playoff game since the 2018 regional quarterfinals, winning the 5A state title in 2019 and reaching the state semifinals last season before the state tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Timberview, ranked No. 4 in the state, will await the winner of Thursday’s game between No. 5 Fort Worth O.D. Wyatt and Denton Ryan.

Mansfield Legacy 76, Richland 44: Quion Williams scored 24 points, and Wayne Wiggins finished with 14 points as the No. 3 seed from District 8-5A overwhelmed 6-5A champion Richland in an area-round playoff game.

Legacy (20-4), ranked No. 14 in the state, advanced to play No. 13 Mansfield Summit in the 5A Region I quarterfinals. Richland went 22-3 over its last 25 games of the season.

Mansfield Summit 61, Grapevine 45: Richard Lemboye had 14 points and Maxwell Jones scored 10 for Summit (23-5).

Carrollton Newman Smith 50, McKinney North 43: Devin Peters-Teague was the only player to score in double figures for Newman Smith, finishing with 13 points, but Dashon McGee and Thibaut Tagnon added eight points apiece.

Oak Cliff Faith Family 67, Wilmer-Hutchins 41: T.J. Caldwell flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 11 points 12 rebounds and seven assists for the state’s top-ranked 4A team.

Brandon Walker added 18 points and five rebounds for Faith Family (22-5), Dallas Hobbs had 17 points, and Jordan Walsh had a double-double with 10 assists and 10 rebounds.

Carter 91, Anna 40: Walter Taylor III scored 21 points and Erin Wright had 19 points in Carter’s win. Carter, ranked No. 4 in the state in 4A, opened the game on a 24-10 run and then outscored Anna 19-2 in the second quarter to lead 43-12 at halftime.