14 fourth quarter free throws led by Jordan dwarfs’ Tigers
The Fort Bend Hightower Hurricanes were facing district rival Fort Bend Travis for the fourth time this season. The Hurricanes had no reason to panic, losing to Travis in all three matchups. In the first two meetings Hightower lost by a combined six points and by 23 the last time they met.
Hightower advanced to the Class 5A Tournament with a 55-47 victory over the Travis Tigers on Saturday in the Region III Finals at the M.O. Campbell Educational Center.
After taking a 5-0 lead, the Hurricanes (27-8) held Travis to ten first quarter points as they controlled the tempo throughout the contest. Coming into the Finals, by way of a fourth place finish out of District 23-5A, Hightower never trailed.
“They had a better night than we did,” said Ryan Simmons Travis Guard. We came out and fought as hard as we could, we couldn’t come out on the winning end but I wished could have. I do whatever my team needs me to do. They needed me to shoot the ball tonight, that’s what I did (3-fourth quarter 3-pointers).
With the win, the Hurricanes will be making their third trip to the state tournament. The last two came in 2002 and 2003.
With 3:00 minutes to go in the first quarter, the Hurricanes took the air out of the ball spreading the floor frustrating the Tigers and from that point on they used it throughout the game to their advantage.
“In the fourth quarter with 2 minutes left, I was thinking oh yea we got it,” said Danuel House Hightower’s forward. “We knew when they started arguing with each other we knew we had the game won. It’s my first time going to state and it’s very exciting, I’m just so happy.
Up 23-19 with 2:48 to go in the third quarter, Hightower picked up five unanswered points to keep a firm grip on the momentum when Travis’s Guard Andrew Harrison was charged with a technical foul for showing his displeasure about a previous call just moments earlier. Johnathan Jordan converted the technical free throws while Marshawn Meadow drained a wide open trey from the right baseline to increase the lead, 28-19.
Travis (32-6) opened the fourth quarter down 31-19. Andrew Harrison drained a 3-pointer to move the Tigers within nine points but could never slow the Hurricanes enough to mount a run. From that point of the game, the Tigers had to foul sending Hightower to the line where they converted 14 out of 22 free throws in the fourth quarter.
“It’s amazing, I told myself before the game if we win, I wasn’t going to cry but my emotions are over running me now. We worked so hard and no one gave us a chance. We watched film on them, the last time we played them they beat us by 23 points,” said Johnathan Jordan Hightower’s guard.