Friday's High School Games

Holiday action is in full swing with tournaments all over the Cen Tex and San Antonio area.  One thought that comes to mind as most teams are about 12-15 games into their seasons is that Austin has no clear cut favorite in 4A or 5A with a variety of teams who with a break here or there could be the talk of the town...or NOT.  Parity rules the day, to the point where David Stern would be proud.  San Marcos has a great senior o-two punch in 2012 G Colling Hart and 2012 W Allex Austin. One team that is well coached, no matter what talent they have is Round Rock McNeil. Coach Hagerman's squad could be Austin's best group when it's all said and done. 

Right now, in my opinion that mantle of top team goes to 3A Liberty Hill.  I've watched them win consistently in the fall leagues and now into the high school season they are beating all comers at the 4A and 5A level, many times by wide margins.  They've got senior leadership, excellent talent, a deep bench and excellent coaching. Liberty Hill could be the lone representative at the State Tournament from the area.

Austin LBJ Tournament
Temple is proving to be a tough opponent as they are getting senior leadership from Jonathan Sulak and Avery Polchinskii. They lost a tough one to Katy Seven Lakes 51-50, beat Austin St. Andrew's 80-60 and put away Manor 57-50.  Sulak had games of 26 and 23, while Polchinski fills the stat sheet. He had 17 in two different games and is always a threat for double digit rebounds and multiple assists per game.

2012 W Avery Polchinski leads Temple

Austin LBJ steams towards the championship game of their own event as they had a 65-63 win over Austin Anderson.  2013 W Ethan Gilbert led LBJ with 20 points while 2013 G John Gramlich had 22 in the loss to lead all scorers.

Salado Tournament
Liberty Hill steps back down to their own 3A Class for this tournament.  Look at the results.  They beat Waco Connally 63-51 behind 2013 PG Shane Lacaille (23) and clobbered San Antonio Hawkins 100-57. 2012 F Steven Graves led the way with 24.

2012 Steven Graves provides senior leadership for Liberty Hill

Austin Bowie split two games.  They lost to San Antonio East Central 81-68 amd then beat Converse Wagner 51-50 in OT.  2012 PG Paul Baxter scored 21 and 23 in his pair of games.

Round Rock Westwood will run and gun if you let them.  They beat Austin High 89-78 and then followed up by whacking Hays Lehman 89-58. Senior G J.T. Dettman had a high point game of 28.

Austin St. Michael's beat Hutto 60-50 as 2013 Sled Allen had 23 points in the win.  Below, Allen rises above a gaggle of defenders.

Down San Antone way the picture is becoming clearer as San Antonio Churchill and San Antonio Warren appear to be on a collision course for area supremacy.  I will be shocked if one of those two do not represent the Alamo City at the State Tournament in 5A.  Of course Converse Judson is one of those teams that if they get a lead on you are tough to come back and beat because of their discipline. In 4A, I like Alamo Heights and their big front line of 2012 P 6'8" Shelby Lane, 2012 W 6'6" Jeffrey Rodewald and 2014 P 6'8" Ben Lammers. 

River City Tournament: New Braunfels
3A Boerne stepped up to the challenge and are 2-1.  They got a big win over Austin Westlake 60-58 as 2013 G Griffin McHone had 18 and 15 in a win over SA McCollum to lead the Greyhounds.  2014 G Chase Carlton had 13 for Westlake.

Westlake then beat a scrappy Loredo Alexander team 73-67. 2012 G RJ Rowan had 23 points and 6 rebounds, 2013 G Will Morse had 19 points and 7 assists, and 2012 P Drew Wikelius had 15 points and 8 rebounds.  Winners of seven of their last eight games, the Chaparrals moved past the Del Rio Rams to earn a spot in the River City Classic consolation championship game. Drew Wikelius led the Chaps with 14 points while Vince DeBlasio and Will Morse had 11 and 10 respectively.

2013 G Griffin McHone leads Boerne

New Braunfels Canyon cruised to two easy wins over San Antonio McCollum and San Antonio Fox Tech as Senior Sean Collinger had scoring game sof 15 and 10.

 San Antonio ISD Tournament
Kerrville Tivy won a squeaker beating San Antonio Southwest 53-52 behind scoring from 2013 Rowdy Winters (16), 2013 P Zach Overby (14) and 2014 G Matt Perry with 13.

2013 Rowdy Winters throwing it down for Kerrville

Round Rock McNeil notched 2 wins including an exciting overtime win over San Marcos 74-72. McNeil is evolving and they are doing it with balanced scoring and the emergence of 2014 G Trey Dilworth.