JimThorpe

He deserved a little exclamation point because he had guys hanging on him the whole way.

The officiating stinks. Maybe it’s going both ways but it stinks.

The officials are a little …. something

19-16 Silsbee after 1 Wheat is shooting lights out from 3.

8 interesting games in 4A. I think that only Washington and FF are prohibitive favorites. I would call the Carter game so but who knows about this Anna team. They've beaten two really good teams. I think they faced sterner competition to get to this point than any other semifinalist. Good luck Tigers!!! Good luck to all the area teams! We're well represented in Region III.

I don’t know but something happened. They went from splitting with Wash and having a share of the district to not even making the playoffs. And they gave the Tigers a great game in the semi. Different bounce of the ball and they’re in San Antonio. Things change fast in 21-4A.

There's highlight videos on MaxPreps. You can get a quick look. [Hidden Content]

We’ve been nagged and browbeaten and conked over the head demanding we must follow the science. So 18 it is.

Well! We'd be more than happy to have Washington move up to 5A and BU can play them to their hearts content! And while they're at it HISD could combine Yates, Wheatley and Furr into one fair sized 6A school! 21-4A is too big anyway.

If Wheatley can engineer a late season trade and get McDermott for an undisclosed number of draft picks then maybe..

I think the scare that the Longhorns gave Silsbee last night was actually a good thing. The Tigers built a lead (despite playing really wonky) and then got complacent. The Longhorns went on a tear and close to within 5. It was a trip. Tiger fans were thinking, "What the heck!" The Tigers themselves may have been thinking, "What the heck!" And the net result is that Silsbee should now have no illusions now about cruising easily to a finals rematch with Washington. Wheatley is not going to surprise them as Hamshire Fannett almost did. Since Wheatley and Hamshire Fannett are practically interchangeable I say Silsbee by 14.

I thought it was just a bad dream and I'd wake up and the 4A Region III Tournament would be at a nice venue.

True. I really thought we might be seeing an upset coming. But then it was like the Tigers said, "Okay, enough's enough." And the Longhorns replied, "Right. Never mind." It felt that way in the arena too. A kind of communal agreement on both sides, "Way to go Horns! You pulled to within 5. Great game." And while there was still over 4 minutes to play. Kind of anticlimactic.

Thank goodness Mr. Elam picked this night to have his standout game. He was the difference. It's great to see him have a night like this when it mattered so much. Gotta love that. Tonight was kind of an all's well that ends well for Silsbee. Obviously the Tigers were in a funk but they did advance. A little scare now and then maybe isn't a bad thing. And this is where it ends for the Horns. They had great season and they had their moments tonight and they can hold their heads high. Interesting to see La Vega give Wheatley something of a game. That's encouraging. Washington beat Wheatley by only 12 in their last meeting. Wash led 66 - 44 going into the last stanza. Too close to pull the starters. And then Wheatley closed the gap against those starters falling 78 - 66.

It’s time now Mr. Harris.

Tigers are stinking up the joint.

We could be looking at the making of an upset.

They’ve never been a good rebounding team. Seen them win by 50 and get out rebounded.

Indeed. Made a BIG difference. Led Tiger scoring with 10.

Actually being up 14 against a quality team while being so out of kilter ain’t to bad. The Horns are killing Silsbee on the boards. And they’re taking advantage on just about every Silsbee mistake.

Tigers are having a rough time.

19-14 Silsbee after one. Tigers missed about 37 two footers.

If they beat Hitchcock they'll play Kountze for Region. That's my "big if" prediction.

I'm wondering what the Horns might do to alter the experiment. I'm a Tigers fan so this is devil's advocate stuff. The Tigers like a fast paced game and they're streaky so don't let them be that way. Do whatever you can to break up the flow and continuity of the game. Even if it's going against your own nature. Go very slow when the clock is not running. I'm not saying go slow when the clock is running. I'm saying play with speed and high energy and use that energy to limit the number of possessions, And as I've said before sacrifice offensive rebounding for defense. Backcourt guys can't get sucked into going after careems unless it's coming right at them. Certainly if you're beyond 15' from the goal and a shot goes up don't pass go don't collect $200 but immediately start back peddling until you see you're guy get the rebound head back on defense. And no errant passes. An intercepted pass is the worst kind of turnover. It would be better to just throw the ball into the stands. A turnover that results in a back court inbounds is usually not going to result in a quick layup or open 3. And getting tied up is the best kind of turnover because you get the ball back half the time. Otherwise it's going to be that 20+ Silsbee win that everybody (including me) seems to expect. Frankly it's mathematical or like before the fact memory, something that's already happened before it's happened.

What about the Horns not crashing the offensive boards in favor of getting back on defense?