Valley hammers Garden City to advance to the program’s first ever state championship game
The dream ride through the playoffs continued for Valley as the Patriots made school history Monday night handling Garden City with ease 60-37 in a UIL Class 1A Division I state semifinal game at the United Supermarkets Arena on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
The Patriots (34-3) now advance to the program’s first ever UIL state title game where they will take on Perrin-Whitt (33-5) out of Region III at 1 p.m. Thursday in San Antonio’s Alamodome.
“This is so exciting,” Valley head coach Aaron Green said. “We had a great crowd in the USA. We’re excited, the student section was rowdy, and the entire community is just so eager to go to San Antonio. This just means everything. The girls did this last year and now we’re able to get us back to San Antonio. I love Valley and this community, and this team is amazing.”
Just like they did in the regional championship against Wildorado, Valley got off to a fast start behind hot shooting. This time it was guard Evan Meyer setting the tone that helped the Patriots get out to a commanding 21-8 first quarter advantage and a 36-19 halftime lead.
Meyer knocked down three of Valley’s five 3-pointers in the opening two quarters scoring nine of his 13 points in the opening 16 minutes.
“Evan was huge for us,” Green said. “He’s a great young man and when he gets hot, he can light it up. When he shot like he did against Garden City he makes us even more dynamic because he takes pressure away from the big guys we have. I’m proud of his effort.”
With Meyer on fire and a comfortable lead Valley was able to go with the Taylor brothers who present any team problems with their size. Kanyon, the 6-foot-8 junior, had a team-high 19 points with three dunks. His brother Corbin, a 6-foot-7 freshman was also in double-digits pouring in 13.
The Patriot defense also did their part holding Garden City to 37 points for the night and 16 at the half. The length of Valley frustrated the Bearcats as Garden City was able to make only six shots inside the arc.
“We work really hard on our defense,” Green said. “We think that if we can limit teams to under 40 points, we have a really good shot at winning. We emphasize defense each and every day in practice and when we get on the other end, we get the big guys to go to work.”
Texline falls to Jayton in Class 1A Division II semifinals
In a game many considered the state championship, Texline gave defending state champion Jayton everything they could handle but in the end it was the Jaybirds pulling away in the second half for a 56-43 victory in a UIL Class 1A Division II state semifinal at the Rip Griffin Center on the campus of Lubbock Christian University on Monday night.
Texline, which was making a fifth state semifinal appearance under head coach Coby Beckner, sees an incredible year come to a close at 31-7 overall. No. 1-ranked Jayton (27-2) will now play for a second straight state championship when they battle Tuesday’s Bryson-Kennard winner at 11 a.m. Thursday in San Antonio’s Alamodome.
The Tornadoes and Jaybirds were tied 8-8 after one with Texline leading 21-17 at the break. Foul trouble stacked up against Texline and Jayton started taking momentum in the second half leading 32-29 after three, then pushing the lead to double figures down the stretch in the fourth.
Joe Clay paced Texline with 16 points. Jayton’s Sean Stanaland posted a team-high 20 points with teammate Bode Ham adding 13.