Aldine – Hightower passed every test the Sharks threw its way. Including Shadow Creek’s late desperation efforts to press the ball.

The Hurricanes survived a late rally, and Bryce Griggs scored 43 points to send Hightower to its first state championship appearance since 2011 by defeating district rival Shadow Creek, 71-62 in the Class 5A Region III finals at the Campbell Center on Saturday evening.

The No. 2 ranked Hurricanes will join top-ranked Lancaster, who blew-out rival Dallas Kimball, 90-69, Mansfield Timberview, and San Antonio Wagner in San Antonio at the Alamodome next Thursday night at a time to be determined.

With two minutes left in the fourth quarter, guard Kristopher O’Neal sank two free throws to put the Hurricanes ( 32-5) ahead, 66-56. But within seconds, Shadow Creek’s junior guard Will Young drilled a trey to tighten the gap, 66-59. Then Griggs responded by netted two free throws, making the score 68-59.

Sharks’ guard Zy’Tarious Morlte continued this see-saw affair as he connected on the first of two free throws, missed the second shot, as teammate Young grabbed the rebound and scored, giving Shadow Creek a three-point play as it drew within six points, 68-62 with 58.61 left. That would be as close as the Sharks would come as Griggs closed out the game, converting four free throws.

Griggs, which led Hightower with 43 points, six assists, five rebounds, and two steals, knocked down shots from the perimeter as well as inside, frustrating the Sharks. The sophomore point guard is one of the top players in the state barring any classification.

Robertson chipped in 13 points for the Hurricanes.

Griggs possess the rare ability of a well-rounded player, who shares and shoots the ball with consistency coupled with speed and quickness to defend the most elusive players. He create matchup problems for most teams. Tonight was no different.

In the third quarter, the Hurricanes led by as many as 20 points on three occasions (48-28, 50-30 and 52-32). But Shadow Creek wasn’t ready to throw in the towel, instead, filtering a change that watched Young score five consecutive points— a three-pointer and a close-range jumper. Following, sophomore guard Shawn Jones stole the inbound pass, found Walker under the goal, was fouled as he made good on a layup. He converted the bonus free throw as the stunned Hightower crowd looked on while the lead shrank to twelve 62-40.

With the momentum in hand, the Sharks searched for more.

Shadow Creek (29-4) did not lack effort. At crucial moments, the baskets seemed closed. Several times, it grabbed the offensive board but came away with no points, which made the hole deeper to dig out.

Young led Shadow Creek with 30 points and seven rebounds. Walker poured in 25 points with five boards.

Trailing 20-15 after the first quarter, Griggs led Hightower on an 11-0 run, opening the second quarter. Senior guard Kristopher O’Neal penetrated the lane for a layup. Griggs scored back to back three-pointers to help regain the lead, 23-20. Then he absorbed a foul and converted one of two free throws before tossing a no-look pass to center 6’7″ Ja Robertson for the dunk.

Shadow Creek’s junior guard Ramon Walker stopped the Hurricanes run with a jumper inside the three-point line, but Griggs answered with another deep three, pushing the lead, 29-22.

Young got free under the goal and banked home a loose rebound in efforts to help the Sharks keep pace with Hightower. It proved ineffective as the Hurricanes closed out the half on a 9-0 run. Cameron Collins swished a trey, Griggs scored on a reverse layup, Robertson drained a free throw, and Griggs beat the buzzer with a trey from the right baseline as he trotted to the locker room with Hightower leading 38-24.

The two teams split a game each in the regular season and finished 16-1 in District 24-5A. Shadow Creek won the first meeting, 74-86, and Hightower walked away with 80-64 victory on February 11th.

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Despite the lopsided score, Lake Creek showed a few reasons why it advanced to the Class 5A Region III Semifinals. Still, it had trouble matching Hightower’s intensity as the game slipped away and watched its season end, 82-63, on Friday night at the Campbell Center.

The win sends the Hurricanes to its third meeting with district rival Shadow Creek on Saturday at 2 p.m in the regional finals at the Campbell Center. The two teams shared the district title with matching 16-1 records.

“You can’t take it for granted,” Hurricanes coach Woods replied. There is no guarantee that we are going to get back to this point next year.”

Hightower’s intensity pushed the Lions over the edge. Lake Creek entered the contest riding a five-game winning streak but had no answer for the speed and quickness of the Hurricanes.

“We knew what we were up against,” Shanon Spencer, Lions coach explained. They are not No. 2 in the state for nothing. They have a great team.”

Bryce Griggs topped all scorers with 31 points. Center Ja Robertson poured in 25 for Hightower.

Collins dunk started a 7-0 run as Kristopher O’Neal converted a free throw followed by Bryce Griggs short jumper and layup to open the game.

However, Lake Creek would show why it reached thus far in the tournament by going on a 9-0 run to take a 9-7 lead. Noah Cantu free throw started the run as Ty George stroked a three. Pierce Spencer drained two free throws before snatching a rebound and sprinting coast to coast as he finished the play with a layup while drawing a foul. He converted the bonus, stunning the Hurricane crowd.

Griggs quickly helped Hightower regain the lead, 10-9, by drilling a deep trey from the right side.

Later in the quarter, Spencer’s midrange jumper would knot the game at 11 before Cantu took an excellent feed to the basket, giving the Lions a 13-11 lead. Then Hightower (32-5) ran off seven unanswered points to close out the first quarter, 20-13.

Spencer led Lake Creek with 27, and Hudson chipped in 14 points.

Both teams continued trading baskets in the second quarter. Senior guard Zack Hazlewood nailed a trey from the left baseline, pulling Lake Creek (27-12) within two, 20-18. However, the Hurricanes and its tenacious spirit would answer as Griggs knocked down a three-pointer.

Then Ja Robertson, and O’Neal took advantage of consecutive baskets as the Hurricanes built an 11 point lead, 33-22. Moments later, Lake Creek’s junior forward Hudson Boyd and Junior guard Jordan Fitch connected on consecutive three-pointers to cut the lead to five, 33-28.

Again Hightower responded after Christopher Harris drew a fouled in the act of shooting a trey. He drained all three fouls shots. That made the score 36-28.

The Hurricanes also entered tonight’s contest on a 13 -game winning streak.

Soon after, the Lion fans cheered as Boyd netted a three-pointer, grabbed a board, and scored a close range basket. Then Spencer’s steal and dished to Hazzlewood, led him to the basket for a layup. That closed the gap, 38-35 entering intermission.

Coach Woods felt like the three-point deficit shed light and could ultimately set the tone for the second half.

Fans cheered loud in the third quarter as the up tempo action kept the game flowing with the exception of Hightower’s two 6-0 runs, which made the difference.

In the fourth quarter, Griggs took over, nailing a fadeaway jumper and drilling a pair of free throws as the Hurricanes built a 16-point lead, 67-51, with 6:12 left.

After Hazzlewood’s trey, Griggs and the Hurricanes ran off eight unanswered points before officials whistled the Hurricanes bench and coach Woods with a double technical foul.

Spencer connected on three of four technical shots to pull Lake Creek within 18 points, 75-57, with 2:51 to go. But it never gave the Lions the spark it needed as the Hightower crowd began chanting, let’s go Canes.

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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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