Posted: Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:50 AM - 7,852 Readers
By: Lorne Chan
With the boys basketball playoffs beginning next week, three area Class 5A and 4A teams were able to sweep their districts.
Wagner rolled with its high expectations, while Harlandale repeated its 29-4A sweep and Brackenridge bounced back from a rough non-district slate.
Express-News boys basketball beat writer Lorne Chan looks at how these teams hope to push perfection to the postseason, and how a Class A team, Sabinal, has managed to stay undefeated all season.
WagnerDistrict 27-5A
District record: 14-0 (first perfect district season)
The rundown: Wagner players aren’t worried about being overconfident, even with a 33-1 record and a climb up the national rankings.
Not when Clifton Ellis is their coach.
“We get refocused after a game once coach Ellis gets on the bus,” said guard Jordan Clarkson, the Thunderbirds’ leading scorer at 18.5 points per game. “He’ll remind you right away how much work is left before we can get to state.”
The T-birds, state semifinalists last season, are No. 18 in the nation according to ESPN Rise and won district games by an average of 28.2 points. While they’re 9-0 against Express-News Area ranked teams, Wagner’s biggest regional competition may come outside the city.
Laredo United is the only team to beat Wagner this season. Regional foes Austin Westlake and Austin Bowie also are state-ranked.
HarlandaleDistrict 29-4A
District record: 12-0 (last perfect district season — 2008-09)
The rundown: Harlandale’s teams always have been defined by its barrage of 3-point shooting, and this season is no different.
The Indians have hit 280 of 849 from behind the arc this season, an average of 9.0 per game.
So who may be the biggest key to Harlandale’s outside success? Juan Mancha, a 6-foot, 240-pound post who almost never shoots threes, of course.
Mancha, who averages 7.6 points, provides a little balance for the Harlandale shooters, who are led by senior Aaron Lopez (18.4 points).
“Teams know what we do,” Harlandale coach Chris Adamek said. “They know we have five guys who shoot the 3-ball well. So it throws them off a little when we throw in a bounce pass to our bull inside.”
BrackenridgeDistrict 28-4A
District record: 14-0 (last perfect district season — 1972-73)
The rundown: Brackenridge dominated in district play, winning the title with a five-game lead ahead of second-place Memorial.
But coach Ed Hooi said some of Brackenridge’s best games this season were losses during the Eagles’ 6-11 start in non-district play.
The Eagles dropped games against Class 5A teams Judson, Taft and Churchill, all by five points or less.
It was all in postseason preparation to avoid a similar scenario as last year, when Brack rolled to a 28-4A championship only to get routed by Alamo Heights in bidistrict.
“We were overwhelmed in the playoffs last year,” Hooi said. “We made sure that memory stayed. These losses have only made us tougher.”
SabinalDistrict 30-A, Division I
Regular-season record: 29-0 (first perfect regular season)
The rundown: There’s one other team in Texas that’s still undefeated entering the playoffs: nationally ranked Houston Yates, which beat an opponent 170-35 in January.
“Nobody’s going to confuse us for Yates,” Sabinal coach David Navarro said. “We have three seniors on the team and our giant, Jesse Joe Rodriguez, is 6-1.”
The Yellowjackets have made their run by outrunning opponents, sometimes pressing from start to finish. No player averages more than 12 points, but the scoring is balanced between Sabinal’s top eight players.
Navarro said an undefeated regular season wasn’t even a thought until a convincing victory against Knippa in mid-December.
“Stacey beat us in district last year and went all the way to state,” Navarro said. “It got us thinking, why can’t we do it, too?”
photography by MICHAEL MILLER
