Austin – For the third consecutive year, the Trojans has its best player available to aid in its second consecutive championship drive.
Junior shooting guard Admon Gilder led four Trojans with 22 points and for the second consecutive year, Dallas Madison sent Yates home licking its wounds after an impressive 82-70 victory in the Class 3A Championship Game on Saturday afternoon at the Erwin Center.
With the win, Dallas Madison (30-3) took home its second consecutive title. Both in convincing fashion.
Gilder, Madison’s top player since his freshman season, nabbed the MVP honors, scoring 22 points along with a team-high 16 rebounds.
Point guard Cameron Bryant tossed in 19 points with ten rebounds; Roderick Johnson scored 16 points with 13 rebounds and Johnathan Turner added 12 points.
Despite struggling through 33 turnovers, the Trojans won the rebound battle, 57-31 while Yates struggled to convert points off turnovers.
“We were fortunate to be tied at halftime after turning the ball over 20 times and going 1-for-10 from three-point range,” Madison’s coach Roderick Johnson said. I told the kids, we played our worst basketball now its time to go play our best.”
“We forced 20 turnovers at the half and we expected to have more points,” Yates coach Wise said.
Most experts predicted Yates (24-9) as the favorite to win the 3A title, however the Trojan’s stunned the Third Ward Community by knocking off top-ranked Lions 84-70 in last season’s highly anticipated contest.
Yates fans watched an unchallenged Lion team advance to Austin where it fell to Dallas Kimball 78-73 in the Class 4A Championship game two years ago.
With a lower school attendence, UIL realignment forced Yates down a classification.
For the Lions, it’s their third consecutive championship loss.
Finding the basket against Madison’s man-to-man defense posed a challenge for the struggling Lions. Failing to knock down open shots from the perimeter only added to its frustration.
“We kind of got out of what we wanted to do in terms of shot selection,” Lions coach Wise said. “We were supposed to be going to the basket but we took some outside shots that we talked about not doing at halftime.”
Washington, who led Yates with 20 points, scored the first basket of the game. Then Dallas Madison responded with a 5-0 run.
Damion Lewis scored 18 points and Jacob Young added 10 for Yates.
Guard Roderick Johnson scored back-to-back baskets, and Johnathan Turner drained a free throw to complete the run with the Trojans leading 5-2.
Fans watched a game of spurts from the two teams.
Milton Jackson and Damion Lewis converted two consecutive baskets to pull Yates within one, 6-5.
No lead was safe, as Madison battled back when Bryant and Gilder accounted for layups, giving the Trojans a 10-6 lead.
The game was played at its normal pace, fast and furious with Dallas Madison holding a two-point lead, 15-13 after one-quarter of play.
Yates pressure began forcing turnovers, but converting points seemed impossible.
Madison, aware of the Lions physical nature, out-hustled, crashed the boards for second-chance points, used the back door cut to perfection, connected from the perimeter and simply out-played Yate in a display of sound fundamentals.
The Trojans opened a five-point lead at the end of the third quarter, 56-51.
“We settled down in the second half, we took care of the basketball and defended Yates well and we rebounded well,” said coach Johnson.
Le’Braun Armstrong opened the fourth quarter with a trey from the left baseline which set the stage and gave Madison the momentum for keeps, leading 62-51.
At best, Yates could only trade baskets without gaining any ground as its defense never adjusted to the Trojan’s inside-out punch. Madison outscored the Lions 26-19 over the final quarter.
“In the second half, we wanted to key on their best players and do what we’ve been doing all year,” explained coach Wise.
