Two sophomore guards were at the center of starlight. Hurricanes’ Bryce Griggs and Crosby’s PJ Haggerty, but it boiled down to whose guard would help his team move on to the next round of the playoffs.
Defense set the tone, and Hightower’s offense kicked in as it mounted a 14-point lead in the first 2:00 minutes of the game, on its way to an 86-71 victory on Tuesday evening in the Class 5A Region III quarterfinals at Delmar Field house.
” We focused on defense to start us off, and I think that rattled them,” Hurricanes coach Stephen Woods said.
The Hurricanes (31-5) will face Lake Creek in the regional semifinals on Friday at the Campbell Center.
Griggs led four Hurricanes with 25 points, center Ja Robertson scored 23 and had 11 rebounds, Kristopher O’Neal chipped in 18, and Cameron Collins added 12.
Before Crosby (26-11) could take a breath, the Hurricanes sprinted out to a 14-0 lead with 6:00 left in the first quarter. Nine of its first 14 points, steamed from turnovers. Hightower accounted for eight steals in the first quarter alone, converted four of six free throws and led, 28-11 after the first quarter.
Griggs and Haggerty are two of the top guards in the area. Dunn and Haggerty kept Crosby on-air support with a few three-pointers, but it could not overcome the Hurricanes’ quickness and guard penetration to the basket.
” Teams want to beat us, so we have to play hard with a chip on our shoulders every game,” Griggs explained.” We can’t take teams for granted.”
Dunn, Haggerty, and junior guard Jaylen Herman combined for 24 first-half points.
In the second quarter, both Dunn and Haggerty tagged up and aided the Cougars as it traded baskets with Hightower until it reached its breaking point after Robertson’s post-move down low and scored off the glass, stretching the lead to 20 points, 42-22 with 2:08 left in the second quarter.
A couple of minutes later, Hurricanes Collins drilled a buzzer-beating trey to send the game to intermission with Hightower holding a 47-27 lead.
Though the Cougars scored its most points in the third quarter, it was not enough as Hightower consistently traded baskets, keeping the game out of reach.
The Hurricanes led by as much as 23- points in the third quarter. The up and down the court continued without much defense.
Crosby battled to reduce the deficit to 16 points at the closing of the third quarter and to 11, 72-61 after Herman made one of two free throws with 4:10 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Yet, O’Neal and Christopher Harris converted baskets to increase Hightower’s lead to 15, 76-61. The basket trading symbolized the pattern of the evening.
Haggerty gave his best effort, tossing in 28, and Deniguez Dunn poured in 24 for Crosby.
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