basketball

By Toni Walker

Photos by Darren and Derrick Rawls

In March of 1996, the Avinger Indians had just won their second State Championship. This had come 19 years after their first, in 1977. Now, 20 years after that 1996 championship, the Indians have once again cut the net, and are the Texas 1A State Champions.

Twenty years later, a key player from that championship team, Treston Dowell, is the head coach at Avinger ISD. The boys who play for him were not born in 1996, but you can bet they have heard about that team. As a matter of fact, at this year’s homecoming game, the school honored the 1996 team on the twentieth anniversary of their championship. Now, 20 years from now, these boys will be honored as State Champions, as well. And their coach will have the distinction of being a champion both as a player and a coach.

The Daingerfield Tigers men’s basketball team advanced to the Regional Tournament for the first time in 18 years, before falling to two games shy of advancing to the Final Four State Tournament. The Tigers roared out to a 15-0 lead, and led by 19 early in the second quarter. Daingerfield saw their advantage nearly completely disappear with 11 minutes left before rallying for a 61-56 victory over Alba-Golden on Tuesday, March 1st at Rivercrest High School in the regional quarterfinals. The No. 25 Tigers (24-5) advanced to play sixthranked Life Red Oak (34-3) in the 8 p.m. Region II-3A semifinal game at Rockwall Heath High School Friday, March 4. Alba-Golden’s season ends at 24-8. Tigers’ season came to an end against Life Red Oak, 54-40 with the Mustangs pulling away 12-4 in the first half, Daingerfield cut their deficit 44-33 before each team matched nearly point for point the rest of the final half.

On Jan. 12, the
Daingerfield Lady Tigers
traveled to Chapel Hill,
where they took on the
Lady Red Devils. Both the
junior varsity and varsity
squads fell to the Lady
Devils.
The junior varsity took
the floor, and could muster
very little offense against
the Devils before the final
buzzer signaled the end.
The final score was 9 to 44
in favor of Chapel Hill.
Monorra Sok scored three
points for the Tigers, and
also added three rebounds,
two steals, and an assist.
Jasmine Tatum scored six
points for the Tigers, and
added three steals, two
rebounds. Brianna Abron
grabbed ten rebounds for
the Lady Tigers, who
dropped to 0-2 in district
16AAA play.
Although the varsity
squad was able to put up
more points, they could not
hold a dominate Red Devil
team down, and fell, 23-102.

The Hughes Springs Mustangs split two close games in the past week, to Paul Pewitt and Chapel Hill. On Tuesday, Jan. 12, the Mustangs visited the Paul Pewit Brahmas. After being outscored, 9-13, in the first quarter, the Mustangs were able to outscore their opponents in each following quarter, to win the contest, 49-45. Austin King was the leading Mustang, scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Kody Burns added 13, for the Mustangs, while Lucky Chism contributed nine points. In a true team effort, Jaren Jones added five points, and Sean Starks and Alex Bruce each added two points in the win for Hughes Springs. Friday, Jan. 15 brought the Chapel Hill Red Devils to town. After again being outscored in the first frame, Hughes Springs kept the Devils close in quarters two and three, before unloading for 18 points in the final quarter. Unfortunately, the outburst was not quite enough, as the Devils squeaked out a 47- 42 win.