Tiger’s 7-point lead evaporates in the fourth quarter
Austin – The usual big offensive numbers didn’t come on a night when the Tigers needed it most from its top player, Aaron Harrison. Aaron’s 10 points was 12 below his average, while Marcus’ MVP Phil Forte made up for last year’s low output, scoring a game high 24 points, including 8-for-8 from the charity stripe.
The Fort Bend Travis Tigers lost 56-52 to Lewisville Marcus (39-2) after Phil Forte sang four free throws in the final seconds to claim its second consecutive Class 5A State Championship Title Saturday night at the Erwin Center.
The appearance is the first for the young school, that opened its doors in 2006 and marks the third year in which a school from 23-5A have advanced to Austin. Bush won the title in 2010 by defeating Lewisville Marcus. Hightower lost in 2011 to Lewisville Marcus.
Also in double figures for the Marauders, guard Marcus Smart with 15 and forward Nick Banyard tallied 10. Twin brother Andrew Harrison led the Tigers with 23 points.
Tigers guard Andrew Harrison said, “Our team is still great. I still love them. We just didn’t make enough plays. I didn’t make enough plays. I didn’t do that, so the outcome was bad. What hurts the most is, our seniors are gone, but we’re going to try to do it for them next year.”
With three of the nation’s top players on one court (Lewisville’s Marcus Smart and Travis’ twin duo Aaron Harrison and Andrew Harrison), the expected battle between No 1 vs. No 2 was as build.
“Their range is unbelievable (Fort Bend Travis guards Aaron and Andrew Harrison) we definitely had respect for their range. Therefore, we had to get out there and guard them. However, that’s an extension of our regular defense guarding on the arc. We actually work on that, guarding people outside the arc, for this reason,” said Nick Banyard Marcus Forward.
After tying the score at 38, Travis (36-4) left points on the board when Aaron Harrison missed the front end of a one-and-one while senior forward DeQuarious Davis missed a wide layup. Smart aware of it, split the Tigers defense with a finger roll and drew a foul. The bonus was good, increasing Marcus lead, 45-40.
Nine first half-offensive rebounds were huge for Marcus.
“We told the kids to crash the boards; we had nine offensive rebounds in the first half. I don’t know what we had in the second half,” Danny Henderson Marcus coach said. Nicks and Hammy (Jared Hamilton) rebound put backs were very big for us. We couldn’t have won without them.”
The Marauders concentrated on more of its patterned back door cuts, which left Travis to pick its poison of guarding Banyard in the low post or covering one of the nation’s premiere 3-point shooters in Forte.
“Phil Forte was the hot man, so we kept feeding him. We’re the type of team, that will utilize back screens”, said Banyard, who said, It makes a team choose weather to give up the layup or the trey, with Phil shooting. It’s been working for us the last three years. Our execution paid off for us today.”
Forte, who picked up the MVP award connected on four free throws to make it a two-possession game with seconds remaining. There was no looking back, as Marcus held a firm grip on the lead to take home its second title.
“I was extremely locked in, coming into this game today. I came in with a big chip on my shoulder and just knowing that I caught a lot of criticism for how I played in last year’s championship. That’s what motivated me most in the off season”, Phil Forte Marcus shooting guard, who said, I just kept working and working in the off-season. I just wanted to prove to everyone what I was capable of.”
For Travis, a tough end to the season comes.
“We didn’t execute as we normally do, we had the lead. We all played hard, we just came up a little short. There a great team over there and they’ve been there. They had some experience and we just made some costly errors,” said Kyle Coulter Travis forward.”
“Our team played awesome, that’s a great team, and they just made one or two more plays than we did. As we tell our kids, the scoreboard doesn’t define you,” said Craig Brownson Travis coach. Today they were a little better than we were today, but we gave a great effort and we competed for 32 minutes. When they found open shots, they knocked them down.”