Posted: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:41 PM - 11,095 Readers

By: Paul Wessels

With two wins Friday, the Mansfield Tigers advanced to the semifinals of the Hill Country Classic tournament at Austin Lake Travis High School.

"We played our best basketball of the year in the two games today," Mansfield coach Richie Alfred said. "We have been a pretty good defensive team all year, now the offense is starting to click."

Mansfield (8-3) knocked off Katy Taylor 54-49 and host Lake Travis 64-40 to reach today’s semifinals against Schertz Clemens.

Senior guard Elliot Dean scored 28 points in the first game against Katy Taylor and 14 against Lake Travis to lead his squad.

"He’s averaging 19 a game," Alfred said of Dean. "But we really are at our best when he doesn’t have to do that. Hopefully tomorrow he plays well and our other guys can continue to play well."


Notable game

Fort Worth Arlington Heights (15-0) knocked off host and defending champion Granbury 50-37 in the semifinals of the Mike Brown Auto Group Tournament. The Yellow Jackets led by eight at halftime but wore down the Pirates in the second half. Willie Byrd led all scores with 16 points. Heights will go for its 16th straight win to begin the season in tonight’s final against Killeen at 7 p.m.


Telling numbers

18Number of points the Fort Worth Trimble Tech Bulldogs were behind at halftime against Jacksonville. The Bulldogs came back to win 74-68.

14Points Justin Northwest outscored Mansfield Timberview by in the fourth quarter Friday. The Texans were down by 12 after three quarters before outscoring the Wolves 17-3.


Just in time

The Northwest Texans didn’t have a lead against the Mansfield Timberview Wolves until the final 1.3 seconds of the game. Will Assama only had six points, but the last two came on a lay-up to give the Texans the 48-46 victory.

"I’ve done this for 26 years and I’ve never seen a game like that," Northwest coach Mike Hatch said. "[Timberview] had the game in hand. They missed a couple free throws down the stretch and turned the ball over. We were very efficient offensively down the stretch."


Game ball

Tony Malone, Arlington Lamar: Malone scored 20 points in a losing effort against Killeen in the Mike Brown Auto Group Tournament.

*  Story Contributed by: Paul Wessels