2013 G T.J. Williams continued his superior play as he scored 24 points to lead the Panthers. 2013 W Justin Moss contributed 15, 2013 G Bryce Bierbower 14 and 2013 G Napoleon Onyeje 14 as Pflugerville cruised. 2013 W Donivan Jones had 31 for the second straight game in a Westbury loss.
2013 G T.J. Williams
I've got to call my Pflugerville guys out on this. You should beat Westbury by 20. You didn't bring it agaist Bush a team you knew you had to fight tooth and mail. Instead you mailed it in and took a butt whoopin'. The Ville has too much tradition and you have a good Coach in David Raigosa. There's no excuse for a lot of you guys to be playing grab ass. Have some pride in your defense or else kiss your dreams of playing college basketball goodbye. That's real talk. I very rarely editorialize, and I don't believe in calling out individuals on a web site but this needed to be said. I'd love for ya'll to prove me wrong come district play-Coach Max
Gold Bracket: 3rd Place Game
Austin Westlake 55 Converse Wagner 53
Wagner and Westlake both tasted defeat last night in overtime. Both should come out hungry...and they did. It's no surprise that it's going down to the last possession. This one had an unlikely hero, 2013 G Vince DeBlasio. DeBlasio is a 6'3" hopper who is a very deceptive shot blocker and rebounder. His final rebound (10th) secured Westlake's win but it was his two prior boards which turned a Westlake deficit into a W. He blocked a shot and grabbed the rebound off a Wagner jumper and then had an offensive rebound off a missed free throw, got fouled and converted the freebies for the win over a gritty Wagner team in the closing seconds.
"My Cousin Vinny", Vince DeBlasio keyed Westlake's final two minutes
Converse Wagner 13 18 13 9-53
Austin Westlake 18 15 13 9-55
Austin Westlake Holiday Classic Championship
A&M Consolidated 66 Clear Lake 64
A&M Consolidated jumped out to a 29-19 lead on the strength of 2013 F Jimmie Gilbert's work on the boards and subsequent conversion of 7 straight free throws. Alex Caruso had a quiet, but efficient 10 points in the half as Rob Lewis and Colton Krenek were on the bench with foul trouble for Clear Lake. Paris Clayton picked up the slack and had 12 points to bring Lake close at the half.
At the end of 3 quarters, Consol is clinging to a 1 point lead, 46-45. I expect to see a lot of Lewis and Caruso in the final period. The winner of that battle will probably decide the game. Clear Lake takes it's first lead of the game on free throws from 2014 G William West with 3:33 to play. The last two minutes the lead changed hands multiple times. With the score 64-64, Jimmie Gilbert is on the line with the score at 64-64. This tournament has had some incredible finishes! Gilbert had a hot hand in the first half but was 1-10 from the field in the second half. Now he's at the line with the game on the line. He hits them both, he's 11-11 from the line for the game! Consol wins and are the Westlake Holiday Classic Champions!
Paris Clayton and Rob Lewis led Clear Lake with 17 and 15 points respectively. Alden Miles added 13, and soph William West had 12. 2013 Josh Stewart had 10 points, 5 boards for Consol and Gilbert had 21, none bigger than the final free throws. Alex Caruso had 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. His last was a textbook back door cut for a thunderous slam. He was clearly the tournament MVP. More on that in another post tomorrow.
A&M Consolidated 20 13 13 20-66
Clear Lake 17 12 16 19-64
I'll have my complete All Tournament performers tomorrow. Below are from left to right: 2013 6'5" Josh Stewart, 2012 G 5'11" Rob Lewis, 2012 G Alex Caruso (MVP), 2013 G Paris Clayton and 2013 F 6'5" Jimmie Gilbert
