North Crowley takes down S.A. Madison

AUSTIN ? San Antonio Madison entered the state tournament with grand hopes and dreams.

For the second consecutive season, the Mavericks went home with those hopes and dreams shattered.

Turnovers and poor shooting killed Madison?s solid defense as North Crowley used a strong second quarter to hold off a late rally and advance to the Class 5A state championship with a 55-46 victory Friday night at the Frank Erwin Center.

"This really hurts," Madison coach John Valenzuela said. "To come this close again and go home empty-handed?"

Valenzuela?s voce trailed off, much like Madison?s ability to hold on to the ball late. The Mavericks (32-8) trimmed a 14-point lead to 45-42 with 3:50 left in the game on Cameron Catlett?s jumper in the paint, but couldn't sustain the momentum.

North Crowley?s Lamar Brown answered with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 48-42 and the Mavericks never recovered. Catlett banked in another lay-up, but Madison unraveled, committing turnovers on three of the next four possessions.

The Panthers (37-1) countered by putting the game away, scoring seven of the next 11 points. North Crowley finished the game scoring 16 points off 24 Madison turnovers and held he Mavericks to just 16 points in the paint.

"Defense has won a lot of games for us this year and it?s something a lot of people forget," said North Crowley coach Tommy Brakel. "They focus on Willie Warren and how many points we can score, but people got to understand that we get a lot of those points in transition or off turnovers."

Madison got the memo, limiting the Panthers? ability to run early and holding Warren to 19 points, 10 below his season average. But the Mavericks struggled with North Crowley?s full-court pressure in the first half, leading to a 13-0 run that turned a 12-11 Madison lead into a 26-12 North Crowley advantage.

Madison cut the deficit to six in the fourth and kept the game in single digits throughout the final eight minutes, thanks to Charlie Harper?s 13 points and six rebounds. But turnovers and an inability to hit shots, doomed the Mavericks? shot at getting that elusive shot at a state championship.

"We just couldn?t hit shots when it mattered most," Harper said. "This is really tough. It?s not the way we wanted this to end."

For more photos of this game, click here.

Date of Article: Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:31 pm