MERIT —   Bland’s Tigers turned back Ector’s late rally to capture the 18th Annual Bland Invitational basketball title with a 48-42 victory on Saturday.

  Bland played tough defense in the first half to build a 35-14 lead but the visiting Eagles hit some big 3-pointers in the second half to pull within 41-40 with 3:05 remaining and then 43-42 with 1:22 left. 

  But 20 seconds later Juan Aviles banked in a shot for Bland and then Adam Shinn canned two free throws with 33.1 seconds remaining to extend Bland’s lead to 47-42. Chris Brown also picked up a charge on defense with 16.1 seconds left and Shinn added a final free throw to lock up the victory with 13.8 seconds remaining.

  Brown, who finished with 14 points, earned most valuable player honors for the tournament.

  Shinn, who led all scorers with 23 points, also earned all-tournament honors for Bland along with Joseph Sourber.



         18th Annual Bland Invitational

             Boys championship

Ector     10      4  14  14    —42

Bland    17    18    4    9    —48

  E: P.J. Connely 3, Ryan Glaser 10, Cody Kennedy 14, Bradlee Coldiron 7, Jimmy Ford 8.

  B: Glen Quezada 2, Joseph Sourber 3, Cameron Turner 2, Adam Shinn 23, Chris Brown 14, Juan Aviles 4.

                                   Girls championship

McKinney Christian    17    12    5      4    —38

Leonard                      13      6    8    15    —42

  MC: Sarah Grubbs 4, Sidney Thompson 2, Julie James 11, Kayce Zanetell 2, Hannah Wilks 17, Kaitlynn McAdams 2.

  L: Abbey De Vincentis 8, Kimmy Blackburn 19, Kacie McCarley 10, Malena Farber 1, Shelby Zumwalt 2, Lexi De Vincentis 2.

                        Boys third place

Sulphur Bluff    4    9      18      9    —40

Community    26    13    15    16    —70

  SB: Blake Brown 3, Dakota Brooks 6, Tyler Raine 2, Landon Dorner 11, Justin Goldsmith 18.

  C: Chae Dexter 21, Dennis Fleck 12, Ryan Gasper 8, Keon Kelley 2, Colton Hutchinson 13.

                       Girls third place

Van Alstyne    6    12    8    15    —41

Bland              5     6     7    11    —29

  VA: Hunter Offill 18, Maddie Horn 8.

  B: Sara Waidelich 20, Morgen Gann 9.

                    Boys consolation

Campbell    11    15      7      7    —40

Leonard      23    16    32    20    —91

  C: Jose Romero 18, Dallas Degarso 6, Roy Almanza 4, Scotty Green 4, Jacob Camp 4, Asa Woodland 3, Yovani Bonales 1.

  L: Blake Hicks 11, Storm Taylor 14, Bradley Dills 4, Tyler “Turbo” Turner 5, Robert Greene 13, Ty McKinney 6, Austin Kitchens 13, Matthew Wilson 13, Max Scoggins 12.

                      Girls consolation

Campbell     12    3    17    16    —48

Community    8    3      4      8    —23

  Ca: Haley Davidson 33, Sarah Taylor 11, Jordan Davidson 3, Kaylin Stigall 1.

  Co: Madison Pendill 7.

  Record: Ca 4-6.

  Next game: Savoy at Campbell, 6 p.m. Tuesday.

               Boys all-tournament

Sulphur Bluff

Tyler “Turbo” Turner, Leonard

Chae Dexter, Community

Cody Kennedy, Ector

Ryan Glaser, Ector

Joseph Sourber, Bland

Adam Shinn, Bland

MVP — Chris Brown, Bland

                Girls all-tournament

Haley Davidson, Campbell

Hunter Offill, Van Alstyne

Sara Waidelich, Bland

Kaitlyn McAdams, McKinney Christian

Julie James, McKinney Christian

Kacie McCarley, Leonard

Taylor Bishop, Leonard

MVP — Kimmy Blackburn, Leonard



Celeste (girls) 52,

Tom Bean 51

  SAVOY — Morgan Lewis hit two free throws with two seconds left to give the Celeste Lady Devils a 52-51 victory over Tom Bean on Saturday in the championship game of the Savoy tournament.

Lewis went 14-of-14 from the line to finish with a game-high 23 points and earn most valuable player honors for the tournament.

  Tiffany Crossland also earned all-tournament honors for Celeste after fired in 15 points and Haley Trentham added 12.

  Celeste, now 11-1 for the season, won its second straight tournament title and will be gunning for its third title starting on Thursday in the Celeste Invitational Tournament

                    Girls game

Celeste        12    12    9    19    —52

Tom Bean    15    13    8    13    —51

  C: Haley Trentham 12, Devon Jackson 2, Tiffany Crossland 15, Morgan Lewis 23.

  TB: Jones 16, Langford 12.

  Record: C 11-1.

  Next game: Celeste at Collinsville, Tuesday.

                  Junior varsity girls

              Cooper tournament

                  Championship game

Prairiland    0    9    2    4    —15

Celeste       8    4    3    8    —23

  C: Jalisa Phillips 7, Briana Heuber 5.

  Record: C 8-0.

  Next game: Celeste at Collinsville, Tuesday.



Greenville 87,

Wylie East 74

  ROYSE CITY — The Greenville Lions had a big day on Saturday at the Royse City tournament, outscoring Wylie East 87-74 and then Forney 87-76.

  “Great day,” said Lions coach Marcus Smith. “We didn’t play as a team yesterday (Friday). Today we played on both ends of the floor. Our turnovers are a little high. Main thing is we played as a team.”

  Eleven Lions scored in the win over Wylie East, led by Dartannon Wilson with 26 and Collen Wilburn with 20.

  Nine Lions scored against Forney as Wilson fired in 28, Jamar Clark added a career-high 25 and Brady Mulkey tossed in 10.

  The Lions, now 3-6 for the season, will face No. 23 state-ranked Princeton on Tuesday night in Princeton.

                     Royse City tournament

                     First game

Greenville     15    23    22    27    —87

Wylie East    19    22    11    22    —74

  G: Chris Bazor 3, Justin Wade 4, Jamar Clark 3, Kadeem Jimmerson 2, Jason Thomas 2, Marlon Mack 5, Darion Neal 5, Brady Mulkey 6, Jerry Dickeson 9, Collen Wilburn 20, Dartannon Wilson 26.

  WE: Finnie 20, Johnston 11, Keisler 12.

                     Second game

Forney         16    18    24    20    —76

Greenville    19    29    12    27    —87

  F: Tilley 13, Collins 14, Cheeks 12.

  G: Collen Wilburn 8, Jason Thomas 1, Jerry Dickeson 2, Marlon Mack 2, Darion Neal 2, Justin Wade 7, Brady Mulkey 10, Jamar Clark 25, Dartannon Wilson 28.

  Record: G 3-6

  Next game: Greenville at Princeton, Tuesday.

                    Freshman boys

Sherman      15    8    13    17    —47

Greenville    18    8      7    18    —49

  S: Wright 13.

  G: Carandal Hale 11, Cole Mulkey 10, Treyveon Heard 12, Spencer Gilbert 16.



Boles 58,

Neches 27

  EUSTACE — Boles jumped out to a 16-2 lead in the first quarter and then cruised to a 58-27 victory over Neches on Saturday in the Eustace tournament.

Hunter Jordan led the Hornets with 19 points, while Ross Bostick and Caleb Samples both tossed in 10.

               Eustace tournament

Boles     16    20    10    12    —58

Neches    2      6    15      4    —27

  B: Hunter Jordan 19, Ross Bostick 10, Caleb Samples 10, Bailey Isom 7, Cameron Walker 7, Joshua Monroe 3, Devan Harris 2.

  N: Serge Kanetzky 10, Austin Willingham 5, Jake Sparkman 4.



Savoy 60,

Celeste 32

  SAVOY — Savoy handed the Celeste Blue Devils a 60-32 loss on Saturday in the Savoy tournament.

Blake Garcia led Celeste with six points.

               Savoy tournament

               Boys game

Celeste    7    10    2    13    —32

Savoy    17    17    16    10    —60

  C: Blake Garcia 6, Austin Shatto 5, Colton Smith 5.

  S: Franklin 22, Phillips 6.

  Record: C 3-3.

  Next game: Celeste at Collinsville, Tuesday.



North Forney 62,

Lone Oak (girls) 43

  WILLS POINT — A 20-9 start helped North Forney pull away for a 62-43 win over the Lone Oak Lady Buffs on Saturday in the Wills Point tournament.

  Alyssa Busby and Hanah Hichol both pumped in 13 points for Lone Oak. Busby, Nichol and Ashleigh Dodwell all had four steals for Lone Oak.

                         Wills Point tournament

                         Girls game

                          Saturday

North Forney    20    18    12    12    —62

Lone Oak           9    16      5    13    —43

  LO: Alyssa Busby 13, Hanah Nichol 13, Courtney McCoy 8, Rebecca Cooke 4, Sara Richardson 4, Ashleigh Dodwell 2, Alexa Wallen 1.

                          Girls game

                          Friday

Lone Oak            8      5      8    13    —34

Dallas Carter     16    21    17    12    —64

   LO: Courtney McCoy 14, Alyssa Busby 8, Alexa Wallen 4, Chelse Rigsby 2, Sara Richardson 2.

DC: Taylor Tennison 21, Artavia Price 18, Khiante Moore 14, Moffett 6, Schetericka Antoine 4, Riley 2, Alicia Pena 1.



Quinlan Ford 49,

Mabank (girls) 37

  MABANK — The Quinlan Ford Lady Panthers whipped Mabank 49-37 to capture third place in the Wills Point tournament.

  Taylor Elrod led the Lady Panthers with 13 points, while Jessika Keeton tossed in 12 and Ariel Hernandez added 10.

                         Wills Point tournament

                         Girls third place

Quinlan Ford    14    14    13      8    —49

Mabank              9    12      2    14    —37

  QF: Taylor Elrod 13, Ariel Hernandez 10, Jessika Keeton 12, Carli Torbert 6, Shelby Reeves 2, Brittany Smith 6.

  M: Ramon 2, K. Holyfield 18, M. Holyfield 10, Young 1, Puemple 4, Corder 2.