CHILDRESS – It’s appropriate that there was a ton of drama for the Randall Raiders in Friday night’s Region I-4A Division II final against Krum.
But for a program which has been through so much offcourt drama and tragedy over the past year, there was plenty of perspective.
That didn’t necessarily make No. 2 Randall’s 63-61 loss any easier to deal with when it was all said and done. The Raiders were close enough the entire final minute of regulation where they could taste their third straight trip to the state semifinals.
However, close didn’t count, and the Raiders (31-6) saw their season end after a historic three-year run of success rarely seen by an Amarillo metro team.
“The regional finals with the last eight teams remaining everyone is good,” said Randall coach Trevor Johnson, who finished a highly successful first season as head coach a few points short of history. “What a fight by Krum. We just didn’t get the stops we needed to at the end of the game.”
Actually, some bad bounces after a great one did in the Raiders in the final minute.
Randall tied the game 60-60 with a minute left when Timothy Perez banked in a 3-pointer which seemed to give the Raiders the momentum. When Krum (26-9) got the ball up the court, though, Andyn Garza was fouled and made one of two free throws to give the Bobcats a 61-60 lead.
On Randall’s ensuing possession, senior Tayesen Combs drove to the hoop for what looked like the go-ahead layup, but it went in and out and Krum rebounded. Garza was fouled again and this time made two free throws to make it 63-60.
When the Raiders got the ball back with under 20 seconds left, Perez threw up what looked like another banked three, but this one went in and out and the Bobcats rebounded again. Lightning didn’t quite strike twice.
“It was a little frustrating when I missed my first layup down there,” said Combs, who concluded a stellar career. “Honestly when Timothy hit that three, I thought we were going to win the game. He just didn’t make that second shot.”
The Raiders still had one final shot when Krum’s A.J. Criss missed a pair of free throws. With 1.2 seconds left, Randall’s Dawson Heider threw up a shot from about a three-quarter length of the court which didn’t come close.
However, it was ruled that Heider was in the act of shooting when he was fouled, and was given three free throws. Heider missed the first one and made the second one to cut it to 63-61.
He tried to intentionally miss the third shot, but it hit the bottom of the backboard without hitting the rim, and the ball went to the Bobcats, who then successfully inbounded it to extinguish the clock and clinch the win.
“We knew if we were going to have a chance to compete against Randall we were going to have to have one of our best games of the year,” Krum coach Ty Tabor said. “They’re so good offensively we had to be dialed in on defense. I guess it was the type of game we hoped we could do what we did tonight.”
It was entertaining most of the way, especially the first quarter when both teams appeared unafraid of ramping up the tempo. Randall fell behind by 11 in the first quarter, but the Raiders rallied and briefly led in the second quarter as the game was tied 33-33 at halftime.
Krum’s uptempo offense was effective to start the game, as the Raiders appeared flatfooted at times. The Bobcats jumped out to a 15-4 lead early.
However, Randall found some rhythm, mainly behind Perez, who scored 11 points in the first quarter, including three 3-pointers to keep the Raiders in it. Randall briefly tied it but still trailed 24-20 at the end of the quarter.
“Both of us look in the mirror and we’re the same team,” Johnson said. “We want to do those same things and play that style of basketball. They just did it two points better than us tonight.”
The similarities between the two teams was born out by the fact that the game was tied at both halftime and the end of the third quarter, when it was tied at 45-45.
Krum slowed the tempo a couple of times in the second quarter to keep down the score. Randall took the lead for the first time 29-28 on a 3-pointer by Tayren Combs.
The Bobcats reclaimed the lead, but Randall’s Jaxon Toniolli hit a fallaway jumper to tie it at 33 in the final seconds of the half.
“I’ll be honest with you, we had some guys who were tired out there because we went so hard rthe first quarter,” Tabor said of his decision to slow things down a bit. “When they went to the zone I felt it was a great opportunity for us to get our legs back under us a little bit. It shortened the game honestly.”
Randall came out stronger in the third quarter and that’s when the Raiders took their biggest lead of the game, 41-35, when Combs made a dunk on a breakaway. However, the Raiders couldn’t hold that lead, and nobody led by four the rest of the way.
It shouldn’t have been that big a surprise that the game was as competitive as it was. Randall needed overtime Monday to beat Brock 70-66 just to make it this far.
“It’s playoff basketball and everybody’s playing the same number of games, so if anything Monday probably made us better to get ready for this type of thing,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately for us shots didn’t fall the last couple of minutes of the game.”
Toniolli and Perez both had 14 points for Randall, Combs had 13 and Zach Shrubs scored 10. Carson Bird had a game-high 22 for Krum while Cash Andrus had 11 and Brian Dorgbetor added 10.
It was a bittersweet season for Johnson and the Raiders, considering Johnson took over last year after Leslie Broadhurst, in his 36th season leading the program, was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. Broadhurst retired late last spring and Johnson was named the permanent head coach, and Broadhurst passed away last October.
Coupled with the death last fall of former player Zak Bol in an automobile accident in Lubbock, a heavy shadow has hung over the Raiders all season. That put the ending in perspective.
“Every team in the state wants to be that last team standing,” Johnson said. “Our goal was to win the state championship and something less than that some people might view as a failure, but man, it was such a rewarding season. These guys have taught me so much and I’m so proud of this season and what we’ve accomplished.”