JimThorpe

Just as soon face Yates as HJ - 7 pt game with 2:05 left

Nope! The Hawks refuse to die! And this is the very best Yates can play- over 50% from the thee point line in the third.

The run is on - Yates up 7 - time out HJ

Really good game. Hawks playing like the first Silsbee game. The question is - when the Lions make their inevitable 3rd quarter run, will the Hawks go quietly into the night? They didn’t in the first. Silsbee game.

And that's an interesting thing to analyze. The Tigers dominated the Hawks in that second game. Silsbee had the Hawks reeling in the first half, missing shoots at the basket making questionable passes, scoring only 55. The margin was 26 points. A convincing win. The Tigers played about as well as they are capable of playing in the first half and the score was 43-18. But then the Hawks gathered themselves and played much, much better in the second half. They were outscored by only one point 38-37. Some of it was Silsbee relaxing a little sitting on that 25 point halftime lead but that wasn't the whole story. Remember too that Persohn fouled out relatively early in the 4th quarter and still HJ outscored Silsbee 22-19 in that period. A lot of it had to do with that scrawny little blond kid who comes in off the bench. I don't know what it is, but when he comes in the game we seem to score a little less and HJ seems to score a little more. And that was true in both games. Go figure. I assume that Yates will win but I'll be looking at the margin. If it's 30 or below then okay, I'm sorry HJ loses but it shows that Yates isn't some kind of monster. But if it's a 50 point drubbing then the Tigers will have to take notice and think hard about what they intend to do. While the Tigers are clearly better than HJ they aren't 50 points better.

True. We can diagnose the problems they had in that game. They did have a very poor shooting night, I mean beyond the pressure defense. They missed shots at the rim that might have gone in. But to me the key is passing and patience. NO BAD PASSES. Anything is better than a bad pass. A 10 second violation is better, a tie up is way better. You get the ball back half the time on tie ups and an inbounds pass rarely results in a layup.

Is there a way? Is there a formula that could give HJ a chance. Something outside the box?

Ranked No. 12, Palestine is the dark horse in Region 3. I give them an outside shot, a very, very outside shot but a shot nonetheless. They have to go through Yates and Silsbee to get there. Ouch. "Couldn't we be in Region 4?" Sorry guys. You're lucky you aren't in Region 2.

Normally I'd be for our district but not this time. Silsbee would have a much better chance against Midlothian. HJ has handled Silsbee easily twice this year and would be the prohibitive favorite on Saturday. It's just got to be true that you have a better chance of upsetting the team that just upset the overall favorite than upsetting the favorite. But my prediction is an 20 point win for HJ at 65-45, because they are just that good. They've been stomping everybody since December. There's that inexplicable 13 point margin one time against Lumberton that's the only ding.

Silsbee by 5. Several lead changes. 65-60 Nail biter.

After an opening run nothing seemed to be going quite right for the Lady Tigers. Miscues and almosts. Lots of turnovers. But every time Sweeny would draw near Silsbee would pull back ahead. They never relinquished the lead and pulled away at the end. It's been a long time coming. Congratulations Lady Tigers!

Friday? That's terrible! There's a better than even chance that girls will be in Huntsville that night. Why can't it be Thursday? We can play at their gym if they like. I know that we were just the runner up and Sweeny won their district. But Sweeny isn't even ranked in the top 25. Silsbee is No. 11 and has to be the favorite. Fairfield is ranked and the Regional Semi will be a very good game. That will be a difficult choice. Well, tough decisions are the prerogative of true fanship.

70 — 31 at the half.

I can tell you this much, 3 of the 4 at state will be capable of wining it. Region 4? Not so much. If Silsbee is one them then objectively they would have to be considered the favorite based on their ranking in the coaches pole and experience in the post season. No boys team has played as many Playoff games in the last 3 years.

It is a playoff game. Huntington played a decent game last year. Anyway, I hope it’s not like clubbing baby seals.

Don’t count Argyle out I’m Reg 1. A rematch would be sweet.

Better than the 77 pt margin in the first meeting. Some of that is Devon sitting out and some of it is Lumberton having experienced the speed and quickness once. A good warm up for Lumberton, like swinging a 20 pound donut in the on deck circle. Shepard will seem to be in slow motion by comparison.

I've said it before, playing the Tigers will be like swinging a bat with a 20 pound donut in the on deck circle. No runner up team in Region 3 is anything like Silsbee so the first round should be all downhill for the Raiders.

Don't know why I thought of this, but the amazing run has been a little rough on the other teams in district 22-4A. We've pretty much just stampeded through district competition lately. Anyway, best of luck to HJ, Lumberton and WOS. Looking for first round wins for everybody.

30-2? Ouch. We had a big lead in the first and put in the subs with about 4 min left and they came roaring back. To me they looked better.

A little tribute to the Longhorns. Hamshire Fannett is playing a good deal better now than at the start of district play. First time out we beat them by 93 with a running clock in the 4th. Last week the spread was 67 with the Longhorns scoring 57. And they were 57 honest points. They only trailed by 10 at the end of the first quarter. HF was scoring often enough that there wasn't really a need to run the clock. HJ beat them by 64 first time out and here the spread was 43. There are subs in the closing minutes of course, but still, it's improvement. Winning state championships like HJ and Silsbee have done is heady stuff. But the really real thing is to be better than your previous best. I think that Longhorns have achieved that.

What about the future? How far can United go? Nobody in 3 is ranked higher than North Shore going into this game. San Antonio? In the first year of existence? Surely it will be either United or North Shore. Memorial has climbed to No. 7. They are the highest ranked team in Region 3 with Barbers Hill right behind. Silsbee of course is the highest ranked team in Region 3 and I think the favorite to go to San Antonio. Three area schools at the State Tournament? That would be remarkable. I hope it happens. FYI. I'm stretching it a bit and claiming North Shore and Barbers Hill each as an "area school" but I refuse to call Yates that. How's that for selective logic!

Huge win. At this point in the season WOS is better than their record. To go in there and pull out an OT win is a pretty big thing. And getting to play the runner up rather than the district winner is even huger. Is that a word? Finishing district at 8-4, not bad at all. And I'm expecting a much more competitive game on Tuesday than that ugly thing at our gym. Watch the passing. Anything, a 10 second violation, getting tied up, anything at all is better than a questionable pass that results in a quick layup the other way.

I'm not sure about it but here's something anecdotal. In my opinion the most exciting game the Silsbee Tigers have played in the last four years was the 46-45 win over Argyle in the 2017 semifinal. No. 1 ranked Silsbee was averaging 105 points per game in a 15 game win streak coming in. But the No. 10 ranked Eagles weren't intimidated in the least and Argyle set the tempo early and kept it to their liking the whole game. It was tight all the way with 18 lead changes. Argyle led 12 - 9 at the end of one. Silsbee had a better 2nd qtr. and led 27-23 at the half. Argyle took the lead back 33 - 31 at the end of 3. Yea, you read right, the Tigers scored all of 4 POINTS in the third quarter. The Eagles weren't slow just very deliberate and virtually immune to Silsbee's patented pressure defense. It was obviously a huge win for the Tigers and perhaps the most emotional. Taken completely out of their comfort zone, trailing going into the 4th quarter, they found a way. Trajan Harris's 2 clutch free throws to tie and take the lead with seconds left are the highlight for Silsbee. The Tiger's lowest scoring game in years is also one of their most important wins.

Tigers increased lead in the 3rd by 15 without Devon and mostly without Adams and Martin.