Boys state basketball championships: Which Texas high schools will take home titles?
The 2024 UIL boys high school basketball state tournament is here.
Championship games are all day on Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Check back here for updates, stats, recaps and more.
Hitchcock rallies to down Ponder for 3A crown
No. 1 Hitchcock comes back from 10 points down at the half to defend its state title in the Class 3A state championship game on Saturday at the Alamodome.
For more in depth coverage of the game, click here.
Jayton wins slug fest with Benjamin for 1A title
No. 2 Jayton and No. 3 Benjamin battled tooth and nail on Saturday, but in the end Jayton was able to make shots in the end that the Mustangs didn’t as the Jaybirds survived 60-53 in the Class 1A state championship game at the Alamodome.
It was the first state title for Jayton (38-3) which had lost in two overtimes to Graford in the title game last season as well as in the championship game in 2019 to Slidell.
This is Jayton’s fourth trip to state and the only time the Jaybirds didn’t reach the title game was in 2020 when Slidell won in the semifinals. No championship game was played because of the Covid pandemic.
The game was close throughout with neither team able to go up by more than six points until the final basket of the game. The game was tied four times and there were 12 lead changes.
Benjamin’s Grayson Rigdon hit a pair of free throws for the Mustangs with 2:52 left in the game to tie Jayton at 52-all. But from that point the Jaybirds took over.
Jayton’s Griff Real blocked the next two field goal attempts by Benjamin, the Mustangs missed on two shots and also hit only one of four free throws the rest of the way.
While Benjamin (24-2) was struggling, Jayton got a pair of made free throws and a jumper in the lane to go down by Championship Game MVP Colt Gentry. Sean Stanaland closed it out with a pair of layups for the Jaybirds.
Gentry led Jayton with 19 points and added six rebounds and four assists. Stanaland and Ayden Salazar had 14 points each with Stanaland contributing four assists.
Real had eight rebounds and the two blocked shots to lead the Jaybirds in both categories. Jayton had a 40-20 point advantage on points in the paint against Benjamin.
Rigdon led the Mustangs scoring 32 points with nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. Jules Pugi had 15 points for Benjamin with Tallon Hayes pulling down eight rebounds, dishing out four assists and coming away with two steals.
Rigdon, a junior, scored 64 points in the two tournament games which is the second most in Class 1A state tournament history. Aaron Gutierrez of Texline had 67 in 2015.
Rigdon’s 32 points, which he had in each tournament game this weekend, also puts him in a fifth place tie for most points in a game at state.
Rigdon also starred on Benjamin’s Class 1A Division 2 state championship football team accounting for 10 total touchdowns in the title game.
The Mustangs were participating in their second state basketball tournament. Benjamin lost to eventual champion Graford in the semifinals last season.
