The Shelbyville Dragons Varsity Basketball Team eliminated the Cushing Bearkats from the UIL Basketball Playoffs, by a 98-69 score, in a Class 2A Region III Quarterfinal elimination game played at Central Heights High School.
The Dragons (34-3) came into the matchup as the District 22 champions. Cushing (26-4) represented the first place seed for District 21.
Jay Buckley led scoring for the Dragons, scoring 35 points to finish as the game’s high scorer. He had 18 points at the midway break. Teammate Cole Ferguson finished the game with 21 points. Jordan Boykins added 15, LD. Coleman secured 14.
Jeremiah Wilson and Deuce Garrett led Cushing with 17 points each.
The Dragons led 8-6 with 5:22 left in the opening period, but then went on a 18-6 run over the next 3:47 to widen the gap to 26-12. Cushing scored on a shot in the paint by Bucky Guadarrama and a 3-pointer by Garrett during a 5-0 point scoring run which pulled them back to within 26-17 by the end of the first quarter.
Cushing scored the first 10 points of the second quarter and took a one-point (27-26) lead by the 5:33 mark of the second stanza. Shelbyville went on a 16-4 run over the final 5 minutes of the quarter to go into the locker room with a 42-31 advantage at the midway break.
Shelbyville led 72-49 at the end of the third period and outscored the Bearkats 26-20 in the final quarter to take the 98-69 win.
The Dragons will face the Lovelady Lions next on Friday, March 1, 2019 at 8 p.m. at Bryan High School for the Region III Class 2A Semifinals.
Tenaha will face the Grapeland Sandies at the same location and date at 6 p.m. If both Shelby County teams should win it would force a rematch of last year’s Class 2A Region III finals which Shelbyville came out on top.
