AUSTIN - Five state champions have been decided at the Erwin Center so far. Your state champions to this point are Cayuga in class 1A Division I, Nazareth in class 1A Division II, Ponder in class 2A, Lubbock Estacado in class 3A, and Houston Yates in class 4A.
CLASS 1A DIVISION I: Most of us in the media expected Cayuga to roll in the championship game (they won their semi-final game by 34 points, but they were pushed by Bronte and needed overtime to win, 66-60. Cayuga is the team that has Traylon Shead, who signed to play running back at Texas, and Malcome Kennedy, who will play football at A&M.
They won a football state championship, and became only the fifth school in Texas history to win both a football and basketball state title in the same school year. The tournament MVP was a freshman, Preston Anderson, who hit 5-of-12 three pointers, including two in the final 1:30 to wipe out a 6-point deficit.
CLASS 1A DIVISION II: Sid Sheffy scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Nazareth beat Slocum 57-48 in the Class 1A Division II state semifinals. Clint Huseman added 15 points for Nazareth (29-7), which has yet another state championship in sight. The Swifts have won four titles since 2002. They lost to Slocum in the 2009 championship game.
CLASS 2A: Kaleb Broadstreet scored 18 points and Ponder overwhelmed Idalou 66-40 to win its third straight state championship Saturday. Broadstreet made four 3-pointers and Ponder (37-4) outscored Idalou 15-3 in the third quarter. Ponder had three senior starters from its first two championship teams and is the first 2A team to win three consecutive titles since Buna from 1961-63.
Ponder used a 15-0 run to blow the game wide open, with Broadstreet's fourth 3-pointer making it 48-19. Idalou barely avoided tying the record for fewest points scored.
CLASS 3A: The 3A game was a rematch of last year's title game: Dallas Madison vs. Lubbock Estacado. Madison hadn't lost to a 3A school since 2008, but Estacado beat them today, 69-63.
The Matadors hit a 3-pointer just before halftime to take an 8-point lead, and stretched it to 13 in the 3rd quarter. The Trojans cut the lead to 2 points on three different occasions, but could never tie the game or take the lead. Estacado avenges last year's loss in the title game, which Madison won 68-66.
CLASS 4A: This championship was decided between Lancaster and Houston Yates. Yates is ranked number one in the country by some polls.
Brandon Peters lead Houston Yates with 37 points. Yates led by as many as 12 in the first half but Lancaster did not give up and played them tough. When JJ WILLIAMS scored on the fast break, Yates had the lead by just 4 at the half, 44-40.
Lancaster had the lead at the end of three, but Houston Yates outscored Lancaster 30-to-8 in the fourth quarter to win.
HoustonYates wins 91-to-73, however, their streak of 15 straight 100-points scored ends. The Lions (34-0) ran their two-year winning streak to 58 games.
