The still-unbeaten Paris Wildcats passed a huge hurdle Saturday night. No, it wasn’t the out-gunned Ferris Yellowjackets, who became victim No. 34 in a 109-42 blowout at Princeton High School.
It was a playoff mountain known as the Area Round, a barrier that has ended the Cats’ boys basketball season the past 5 straight years, ever since head coach Billy Mack Steed took the 2009 team to the regional tournament on the strength of Roro Barr’s legendary buzzer-beater over Sanger, 51-49, in their previous appearance in the third playoff round.
The Cats are back in the regional quarterfinals. The only last-minute drama they needed Saturday night was a 3-pointer by backup senior 5-5 guard Tre Miles that put triple digits on the Paris side of the scoreboard to the delight of a sizeable crowd of Paris fans who braved icy conditions to make the two-hour trip west.
Miles had some dazzling moments quarterbacking the second unit which saw extended playing time in the rout. The starters left the court with 8 seconds left in the third quarter and the lead already at 89-35. The reserves outscored a by-then demoralized Ferris team, 20-7, to reach the final victory margin of 67 points.
Ever since a sub-par outing on Feb. 13 in a 72-65 district win over Pleasant Grove, the 17th-ranked Cats seem to have their offense back in synch. They’ve won their past 4 games by an average of 50.5 points.
Saturday’s outcome beat the prior season-high margin of 51 points set earlier in the week in a 95-44 squeaker over Tyler Chapel Hill in the bi-district round. However, to return to the Region 2 tournament, Paris will need to surpass a familiar playoff nemesis.
The Cats will face District 16 champion Kilgore either Monday or Tuesday in a quarterfinal pairiing. The Bulldogs eliminated the Cats in the area round the past 2 seasons by scores of 52-50 and 59-47.
The Paris-Kilgore winner punches a ticket to the Region 2-4A Semifinals to be played Friday at Texas A&M-Commerce. Their opponent will be one of the vaunted Dallas teams (Madison, Lincoln, or extreme longshot Aubrey).
The Yellowjackets would attest that Paris’ performance Saturday was “Dallas-like”. It was the third loss that Ferris (12-18) has been dealt by Paris this season.
The Cats overwhelmed the smaller ‘Jackets inside by a 47-20 rebound margin, but it was the Cats’ outside markmanship that was most impressive. They shot a torrid 68% of their 3-pointers (13 of 19) and 69% overall from the field (44 of 64).
Each Paris starter finished in double fiigures scoring including:
- Seljah Johnson 22 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists,
- Roy’D Jones 19 points, 9 assists, 2 steals,
- Jalon Pipkins 15 points (5 of 6 on 3-pointers), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 steal,
- Jordan Embry 15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks, and
- Jared Embry 11 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists
After Pipkins started the scoring with his first long-range bomb, the Cats established their inside dominance with 8 straight points by Jordan to roll up an 11-0 lead before Ferris finally broke the ice on a 3-pointer with 4:45 left in the first quarter.
A couple more 3’s brought Ferris within 15-11 before Johnson got into the act with 8 straight points to provide some separation.
Sixth man Gary Woods ended the quarter with a 3-pointer and give the Cats a 28-15 lead. The 6-2 senior, coming off a good showing in the bi-district game, provided a lift off the bench with 9 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks
Not that it was absolutely needed Saturday, but a good sign nonetheless with much tougher competition in the week ahead.
Paris held a 55-24 advantage at the half before outscoring Ferris, 34-9, in the third quarter. After some early outside shooting, the Yellowjackets cooled to 21% from the field and were helpless on defense as the Cats notched an impressive 31 total assists.
The team that couldn’t crack the coaches’ top 25 rankings until midseason now finds itself all alone among Class 4A unbeatens. Previously undefeated, 4th-ranked Liberty Hill fell to that same area round hurdle on Friday to end its season abruptly.