Game of the night

Sammon Johnson hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Colleyville Heritage boys a 67-65 win over Birdville on Friday night.

Matthew Zakaria hit two free throws with nine seconds left to put Birdville up by one, but Johnson drove the length of the court and hit the game-winner. The two teams combined for 51 points in the fourth quarter.

Tristan Strength led Colleyville Heritage with 21 points, and Michigan State signee Gehrig Normand led Birdville with 24 points. Normand, a four-star recruit, is rated the eighth-best player in Texas in the Class of 2023.

Spotlight

DeSoto routs Lake Ridge as freshmen shine

DESOTO — The 11-time state champion Duncanville girls need one more win to clinch the District 11-6A title.

But DeSoto took a big step toward claiming the No. 1 seed in the playoffs from 11-6A on Friday night. DeSoto, the back-to-back Class 6A state champion, routed Mansfield Lake Ridge 70-27 as freshman Amari Byles scored a game-high 17 points and fellow freshmen Rieyan DeSouze, Amayah Garcia and Kamora Pruitt combined for 22 points.

Duncanville (24-4, 11-0) is ineligible for this year’s playoffs, having been banned by the UIL because of a rules violation, but it can still win the district title. Second-place DeSoto (20-5, 10-2) has a two-game lead over Cedar Hill with two district games remaining and would clinch the No. 1 seed with a win over Mansfield Legacy in a game that was postponed from Tuesday until 3 p.m. Saturday at Legacy because of the inclement weather that hit the Dallas area this week.

“We do talk a lot about seeding. We understand the importance of it,” DeSoto coach Andrea Robinson said.

DeSoto, ranked No. 5 in the state, held four-star Texas A&M signee Kylie Marshall to eight points while forcing 27 Lake Ridge turnovers. The 5-11 Marshall is the No. 1 recruit in the state in the Class of 2023 and is rated the 35th-best player in the nation by ESPN’s HoopGurlz, but DeSoto’s zone defense and full-court press limited her to six shot attempts from the field.

“Our plan was to keep her to single digits or no more than 10, so we had a plan to keep her under control,” Robinson said. “We just made sure we tagged her. We always knew where she was on the floor. We understood that if we let her get loose and she gets going, it could be hard to deal with.”

The Duncanville girls, ranked No. 11 in the nation by MaxPreps, haven’t played this week. Duncanville moved Tuesday’s game at Waxahachie to 4 p.m. Saturday and postponed Friday’s game at Mansfield until 6 p.m. Monday. The Duncanville boys, ranked No. 3 nationally, will play right after the girls on both days.

Here are other Friday games for state-ranked teams that were postponed:

In TAPPS, the No. 4 Fort Worth Nolan girls will play at No. 1 Plano John Paul II at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The Fort Worth Nolan boys will play at No. 7 John Paul II at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

The 5A No. 7 Lancaster boys will play at Corsicana at 7 p.m. Monday.

Friday’s top performers

Boys

Ty Mason, Plano: He scored a career-high 33 points as the state’s eighth-ranked 6A team beat Lewisville 76-68. Plano (19-7, 9-1) is tied with Plano East for first place in District 6-6A, and they will face each other at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Plano East.

Narit Chotikavanic, Plano East: Plano East (27-3, 9-1), No. 12 in the state, beat Coppell 69-44 as Chotikavanic scored 20 points off the bench. He is the fifth different player to score at least 20 for Plano East this season, and the team has had eight different players lead the team in scoring.

Jaxson Ford, Prosper: He scored a team-high 14 points in a 59-55 win over Allen, ranked No. 4 in the state in 6A. Tulane football signee Hunter Summers and James Cloud scored 12 apiece for Prosper.

Xavier Green, The Colony: He hit a pull-up jumper from about the free throw line in the final seconds to give The Colony a 62-60 win over Frisco Lone Star. Green finished with 14 points, and Dakari Spear scored a team-high 19 for The Colony.

Tre Johnson, Lake Highlands: The nation’s No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2024 scored a game-high 23 points as the state’s No. 1-ranked 6A team rallied to beat Richardson 55-46. Lake Highlands trailed by five after the first quarter and led by just five entering the fourth quarter.

Savon Price, Cedar Hill: He had a triple-double with 11 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds and five steals as the state’s 25th-ranked 6A team beat Skyline 79-52.

Dillon Watt, Greenhill: He scored 33 points in an 81-70 win against Arlington Oakridge. Mitchell Holmes scored 30 for Oakridge.

Grant Gilmore, Ennis: He scored 31 points to lead Ennis to a 65-48 victory against Terrell. Ennis outscored Terrell 41-27 in the second half.

MJ Thomas, Denton: He scored 26 points in a 56-53 win over Lake Dallas. Denton closed the game on a 17-9 run.

Caleb Kendall, Frisco: He made four 3-pointers and scored 24 points in a 69-54 win over Frisco Wakeland. He scored nine points in the fourth quarter.

Photos: Little Elm girls basketball knocks off Denton Braswell

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Girls

Kaityln Edmondson, Flower Mound: She scored a team-high 18 points and made two clutch layups in the final minute as Flower Mound held on for a 60-58 win over Hebron, the state’s ninth-ranked 6A team. Hebron (26-5, 11-1) fell into a tie with Coppell for first place in District 6-6A, and those teams will face each other at 1 p.m. Saturday at Hebron. Flower Mound clinched a playoff berth with the win.

Amarachi Kimpson, Little Elm: The UNLV signee scored 25 points as No. 21 Little Elm beat No. 15 Denton Braswell 53-46 in a matchup of state-ranked 6A teams. The win gave Little Elm (25-5, 10-2) sole possession of first place in District 5-6A, one game ahead of Braswell (24-7, 9-3) and Allen. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi pledge Torie Sevier had 15 points and 11 rebounds for Braswell.

Alli McAda, Sunnyvale: She scored 30 points and Ouachita Baptist signee Micah Russell added 22 points as the state’s eighth-ranked 4A team beat Wills Point 80-24 and improved to 26-5. Russell averaged 37.5 points in two games last week and was The Dallas Morning News Player of the Week.

Ciara Harris, McKinney North: She scored 29 points to lead the state’s 14th-ranked 5A team to a 49-41 win over Lovejoy. It was tied at the end of the first quarter, but McKinney North used a 13-4 run in the second quarter to take control.

Madison Spain, North Mesquite: Scored 27 points in a 60-8 win over Bryan Adams.

Jaeden Gillam, Keller: She made five 3-pointers and scored 26 points — all in the first three quarters — as Keller beat Keller Timber Creek 48-24. Gillam scored 18 points over the second and third quarters, when Keller outscored Timber Creek 34-11.

Paris Lauro, Highland Park: The New Mexico signee scored 23 points in a 64-49 victory against Irving Nimitz. It was Lauro’s sixth straight game with more than 20 points.

JJ Echols, Frisco Memorial: Scored 18 points as Memorial, last year’s Class 5A state runner-up, beat Frisco Centennial 54-41. Memorial (22-10, 9-1) moved into a tie with Frisco Liberty for first place in District 10-5A.

Stat sheet

22-2

Lead at the end of the first quarter for the Argyle girls as the state’s fifth-ranked 5A team beat Grapevine 63-19 and extended its winning streak to 23 games. Argyle (28-3, 12-0) has a one-game lead over Denton Ryan in District 7-5A going into their showdown at noon Saturday at Argyle. Argyle will clinch the district title with a win.

0

Points allowed by the Sunset girls over the first three quarters in a 39-5 win over Thomas Jefferson.

On Twitter: @DMNGregRiddle

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