Huntsville holds off North Forney for area title

Josh Criswell, The Huntsville Item, Texas
·2 min read

Feb. 26—PALESTINE — Huntsville might've clinched its second consecutive area championship on Thursday night, but the Hornets were hardly satisfied with their performance.

North Forney cut a double-digit Huntsville lead down to three points over the final five minutes of the Class 5A playoff game at Palestine High School. Despite this near collapse, the No. 16 Hornets (12-0) secured a 91-85 victory, with late free throws from Tie Matthews and Kevin Harrison sealing the win.

"We didn't play our best ball, but it's good to come out with a win," Huntsville head coach Jay Oliphant said. "Our defense was atrocious in the first half. In the second half, we buckled down and played a little bit better and we were able to win."

"We could've lost this game messing around like we did," added senior guard Jordan Woodberry.

Unable to keep up with North Forney's hot shooting in the early going, Huntsville trailed for a significant portion of the first half, and faced a six-point deficit in the final minute of the second quarter. Senior guard Jadarian White helped turn the tide for the Hornets, knocking down back-to-back 3-pointers in a span of 35 seconds to tie the game at 47 at the half.

White finished the night with 31 points, including 18 off six threes in the first two quarters.

"It was big," White said. "We've never really been down at halftime ... and that was able to pick everybody up."

Huntsville and North Forney swapped leads at the start of the third quarter, before Matthews converted a second-chance and-1 off an offensive rebound to put the Hornets ahead 54-52 with 4:41 left in the period. With Huntsville placing an emphasis on attacking the paint with 6-foot-9 big man Taylor Harell, who finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds, it was able to rattle off a 19-5 run that proved to be the difference in the game.

Junior forward AJ Wilson recorded 13 points for the Hornets, while Harrison and Matthews also scored in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

"We were able to get some fastbreak layups and get some stops, so we were able to get out and run and get some points in transition," Oliphant said. "I thought we did a good job on offense of getting the ball to Taylor and letting him bang it on the inside."

Next up for Huntsville is a third-round showdown with Mt. Pleasant, which is undefeated and ranked No. 9 in Class 5A. Check back for updates on the date, time and location for that game.