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Thrice as Nice: Lions hold off Nolan in OT for third state championship
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
MANSFIELD -- In a season full of ups and downs, it's only fitting the Prestonwood Christian Academy boys basketball team's swansong was an emotional roller coaster.
Fort Worth Nolan provided as game a foil as could have been anticipated by the raucous turnout at Mansfield Legacy for Saturday's TAPPS 5A State Championship, but in the end, the Lions prevailed for a 71-66 overtime victory for their third state title in four years.
"This means a lot to me," said Marquan Botley, Prestonwood senior. "I'm a senior now, so I wanted to go out the right way. We've had a lot of adversity throughout the season and to end it this way, we put our trust in God and he got us to this point."
But as was the case all too often during the TAPPS State Tournament, the Lions' championship hopes lived or died behind the play of senior Julius Randle.
The nationally-touted forward responded accordingly, scoring 21 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth and overtime, including eight of Prestonwood's last nine points of the game. He added 20 rebounds and six steals in his final varsity game.
"This was my last quarter in high school," Randle said. "This is how I wanted to go out."
Scoring 10 of the Lions' 14 overtime points, Randle did his damage late from the charity stripe. Amid dueling chants of "MVP" from the Prestonwood faithful and "overrated" by Nolan fans, Randle went 9-of-10 on free throws from the fourth on. His last two makes extended the Lions' lead to 71-66 with five seconds remaining and sealed the victory.
"I was focused on winning it," Randle said. "[The Nolan fans] talk a lot and they can say whatever; it's all fun and games."
The fun and games were in Prestonwood's favor early as the Lions raced out to a 14-4 lead after one quarter. That lead ballooned to 31-14 late in the second stanza as the perimeter shooting that eluded the Lions the night before in their state semifinal win over John Paul II blitzed the Vikings with six first-half 3-pointers.
Senior Chas Taylor accounted for two of those en route to tallying 12 points while Botley chipped in 10 points and six assists, and sophomore Shane Missimo scored nine.
"[Nolan] came out in a 1-2-2 zone," said Chris Mayberry, Prestonwood head coach. "We just didn't move the ball very well in the first half, so although our guys got shots, we could have done a better job attacking the middle of that zone."
The Vikings, led by 18 points from Russell and Michael Sarrat, closed out the first half on a 6-0 run that trimmed Prestonwood's lead to 31-20 at the break. The Lions entered the fourth with a 34-22 lead.
From there, the Vikings caught fire.
Shooting white-hot beyond the arc, Sarrat and Gabe Gumm totaled five threes in the fourth and Nolan forced six turnovers for a 16-6 run within the period's first five minutes.
"We knew Nolan was going to be able to make shots," Mayberry said. "I thought we made some defensive errors, but they made some big shots. When we couldn't really put them away in the second half and our lead stayed around 10, it felt like if they made a couple shots then they'd be right back in it."
Eleven of Prestonwood's 13 fourth-quarter points came from Randle, seizing control of the offense and never letting up en route to capturing his third state championship. He, Botley and Taylor were named to the TAPPS 5A All-Tournament Team and completed their respective high school careers with a second straight title.
"We've been through so much this season," Randle said. "This just lets us know that it all paid off in the end and showed how tough we were down the stretch this year."
Randle to commit on March 20
After years of speculation, Randle will make his college decision March 20.
The commitment will take place at noon and is expected to be on ESPNU. Randle will decide between Texas, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina State, Florida and Oklahoma.
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