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The final chapter in the greatest season in Paris High boys basketball history was closed Friday night in a Region 4-2A semifinal at a standing-room-only Texas A&M-Commerce Fieldhouse, but not before the underdog Cats proved their unbeaten record was no fluke and that they belonged on the same stage as one of the state’s elite teams.
The Dallas Madison Trojans, who won the past two Class 3A championships only to be stripped of those titles after a bizarre murder investigation uncovered the fact they had used an ineligible player, was extended to the final 15 seconds before securing a 55-50 win and advancing to Saturday’s regional final. They will face top-ranked Triple A Academy, which defeated Brownsboro, 83-59, in the other Friday semifinal, in the 12 noon championship match.
For Paris, the trail ends at 35-1.
The 17th-ranked Cats led No. 3 Madison, 30-27, at halftime, and a Seljah Johnson fast-break bucket and foul pushed the lead to 33-27 to start the second half before the bubble burst. The Trojans stepped up their outside shooting in the second half with four 3’s, while the Cats went cold from long range.
Johnson, who led all scorers with 21 points, picked up 2 fouls as the third quarter closed. As the Cats’ All-Region senior wing went to the bench with 4 fouls, Madison expanded a 38-37 lead to 48-40 before Johnson went back into the game with 6:15 remaining.
The Cats made one final desperate run, 10-3, to close within a point, 51-50, before Texas A&M signee Admon Gilder sank a pair of free throws with 29.6 seconds left. Paris had a throw-in under its own basket with 15.1 remaining, but the pass over a tight Madison defense went out of bounds.
Gilder, who was held to 10 points by the Paris defense, sank two more free throws with 10.9 left to ice the win.