The Brookeland Wildcats basketball season has come to a close and it came one game short of the prize, a trip to the state championship game. The Wildcats traveled to Athens High School to face the Perrin-Whitt Pirates in a State Semi-Final match up in front of plenty of screaming fans for both schools. It was a hard fought game by both teams but in the end, the Pirates will advance to San Antonio’s Alamodome to play Valley High School to see which team claims the Class 1A Division 1 championship.
Both teams started the game tight as they tried to get in a groove and begin to score on one another. Both defenses held sway in the early going, as points were hard to come by. As the opening quarter was close to ending Cade Morgan picked up his second personal fouls and had to go to the bench. As the first quarter concluded, Brookeland led 12 to 11. In the second quarter, the Wildcats defense was able to hold the Pirates to only 9 points and they scored 14, as this looked promising for the Wildcats when both teams headed for their locker rooms the Wildcats led 26 to 20.
In the third quarter the Pirates outside shooter caught fire and they hit five 3 pointers in route a 22 point quarter while the Wildcats scored only 10 points. So as the two teams headed into the final quarter of play the Pirates led by 6 points 42 to 36. In the fourth quarter at one point, the Pirates had extended their lead to 10 points, but the Wildcats were not through. Brookeland battled back and drew to within 2 points of the Pirates at 54 – 52. However, Morgan who has been such a key to the Wildcats success this season fouled out of the game with about 4 minutes left on the clock. The Wildcats continued to battle, but as the Pirates extended their lead the Wildcats were forced to commit fouls in order to get additional possessions, but the Pirates captain and the son of the coach just kept hitting free throw after free throw. In the End, it was the Pirates 66 and the Wildcats 57.
Landon Smith led the scoring for the Wildcats with 23 points while Zack Beatty contributed 11 points. Morgan had 10 points and Sammy Lundquist and Braden McCugh both had 5 points. There are four seniors on the Wildcats roster, Morgan, Lundquist, Jake Bennett and Zach Beckett. Seven players on the playoff roster will be back for at least one more season. Leading Scorer Smith, Beatty and McCugh will all be back for their senior years.
The wildcats and their fans certainly wanted the ride to continue and many had most likely already made plans for a trip to San Antonio on Thursday. In the end, the Wildcats ended their season with a 29 and 8 record. They are the Region 4 Champions and a State Semi-Finalist. That after being a Regional Finalist a year ago. The Brookeland faithful remains proud of the team and the effort on the court.
KJAS also would like to thank the Brookeland ISD for allow the station to broadcast both the girls and boys playoff games this year. In addition, KJAS thanks all the commercial sponsors that provided the funds to do the broadcasts’.
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