Class 3A

Childress knocks off Idalou for third time this season 

Childress continued its hot streak in big time playoff matchups and completed a season sweep of District 2-3A rival Idalou in the process during Monday’s Class 3A regional quarterfinals.

The Bobcats used a big first half that led to a 63-56 win over the Wildcats in Floydada giving Childress its ninth playoff victory in the past 10 games as well as downing Idalou (23-11) for a third time this year.

Childress had beaten the Wildcats both times during the district season. The Bobcats (27-8), the reigning Region I champions, head back to the Region I-3A Tournament to defend their crown where they will face Holliday (32-2) in a semifinal at 6 p.m. on Friday in the Tiger Pit at Frenship High School.

Childress had a solid shooting night against Idalou that helped propel the Bobcats to a 32-22 halftime lead they’d never relinquish.

Aiden Allen was one of four Bobcats in double figures pouring in a team-high 16 points. Teammate Jesus Jalamo went for 15 with Billy Moore adding 12 and Isaiah Jalamo chipping in with 12.

Despite the loss, Idalou’s Kutter Houchin posted a game-high 23 points.

Class 2A 

Olton stuns Clarendon in OT thriller 

Clarendon and Olton gave fans not only free basketball on Tuesday night but delivered one of the best postseason games to date across the state with Olton leaving with a 63-62 thrilling buzzer beating overtime victory during a classic Class 2A regional quarterfinal at the Caprock Activity Center.

In a game that saw 13 lead changes in the second half alone including overtime, the final 10 seconds in OT is all anyone in the stands will remember.

Clarendon’s Lyric Smith had made a layup putting the Broncos up 62-61 with 10.5 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Olton’s sophomore guard Sebastian Sparkman took the ball from under his own basket, dribbled up the right side of the court made a hesitation move at his 3-point line and then launched a floater from 12-feet that was good as time expired giving Olton the unbelievable win.

“We started by saying we had to beat Clarendon for 32 minutes,” Olton head coach Bobby Workman said. “They are such a great team. “Then at half we said we had to beat them for 16 minutes. At the end, I said we just had to beat them for 10 seconds and we did. Sebastian is a sophomore that played unreal and was so hard for Clarendon to defend. Our guys work so hard, and we deserve this. Clarendon is phenomenal but I’m so proud of my guys.”

Sparkman finished with 19 points on the evening but none bigger than the closing second jumper. Nathan Urbina, who didn’t miss much during the contest, tallied a team-high 24.

The loss spoiled a tremendous effort from Clarendon’s Lyric Smith, who played his final game in a Broncos uniform. Smith was the last player off the UIL Class 2A state championship teams of 2021-2022.

Smith was tremendous posting a game-high 25 points including going 6-for-6 at the charity stripe towards the end of regulation.

Teammate Mason Sims chipped in with 11 before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

The Broncos end a great year at 16-5 overall. Olton (22-10) advances to the Region I-2A Tournament and will battle Plains (33-3) in a semifinal at the Texan Dome in Levelland on Friday.

On the other side of the bracket, the Farwell Steers also saw their season come to an end at the hands of Floydada 59-53 in a Class 2A regional quarterfinal on Tuesday.

The Steers, the District 3-2A champions, end a great season at 25-10. The Whirlwinds (27-8) advance to play New Home (20-7) in a Region I-2A semifinal on Friday night in Levelland.

Class 5A

Amarillo High cruises past El Paso Andress 

It was another night at the office for the Amarillo High Sandies.

AHS made quick work of El Paso Andress 61-32 in a Class 5A regional quarterfinal on Tuesday afternoon at Midland Legacy High School.

The Sandies (32-4) advance to the Region I-5A Tournament for a fourth straight year and the eighth time in the last 12 years.

AHS will take on Mansfield Summitt (27-8) for a fourth straight year at 7:30 p.m. on Friday in a semifinal at the Kay Yeager Coliseum in Wichita Falls.

AHS dominated from the jump taking a 20-11 by halftime and cruising by the end of the third up 45-23. The dynamic duo of Braden Hausen and Zach Brown put in the work for the Sandies with the two combining for 43 of the Sandies 61 points.

Brown caught fire in the second half scoring 20 of his 22 points in the final two quarters including a 15-point third stanza where he knocked down four 3-pointers. Hausen tallied 21 points finishing with three 3-balls.

On the other side of the bracket, Palo Duro fell in a heartbreaker to El Paso Chapin 30-29 in a very low scoring affair in the night cap at Midland Legacy. The Dons held a 13-8 halftime lead but weren’t able to hang on.

Palo Duro ends a tremendous year at 24-7 overall. Chapin (33-4) moves on to face Colleyville Heritage (29-6) at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the other semifinal.

Class 1A

Defense leads Texline past Nazareth 

Two of the top Class 1A basketball programs in the Texas Panhandle met once again Monday night to decide who would move on to the Region I-1A Tournament this weekend in Levelland.

A year ago, Nazareth upset Texline to advance so the Tornadoes were looking for a measure of revenge. Behind relentless defensive pressure, No. 4-ranked Texline took the lead midway through the first quarter and never looked back registering a 55-43 victory over No. 10 Nazareth in front of an estimated 1,000 fans at the Amarillo High Activity Center.

The Swifts withstood the full court pressure for half the first quarter but a Hayden Drumm basket at the 3:55 mark put Texline in front, 5-4.  Drumm followed that basket up with a left wing three to extend the lead to four.

The final 45 seconds then got crazy. Nazareth’s Creed Hochstein buried a 3-pointer to pull the Swifts back to within one before Texline quickly got the ball down the court.  Joe Clay followed up a missed Hayden Alston shot with a put back and foul.

Clay calmly sank the free throw to give the Tornadoes an 11-7 lead.  The swarming Texline defense then forced a turnover and Rett Wann nailed a 3-ball from the left corner before the Swifts Bryson Brockman drained answer from inside the half court stripe cutting the deficit at 14-10.

The Tornadoes extended their lead in the second holding a 27-18 advantage at the intermission.

The Swifts, however, bounced off the ropes to begin the second half. Kayle Rogers, who went scoreless in the first half, put up five quick points and Nazareth was within four, 27-23.  After a timeout, the 6-foot-5 Alston nailed a 3-pointer and Drumm drove in the lane on their next possession for an easy two.

Rogers kept the Swifts alive on the other end getting another two before Drumm buried a deep ball from the top of the circle and Texline never let the Swifts get any closer than eight points the remainder of the game.

The sharpshooting Drumm led all scorers with 25 points while Clay chipped in 13 as Texline moved their record to 30-5 and will meet Whitharral (24-5) in a regional semifinal at 1 p.m. on Friday at the Texan Dome in Levelland.

For Nazareth, which finished their season at 18-11, Rogers had 11 points, all in the second half, while Hochstein added 10.

Two games moved to Wednesday 

Due to the very dangerous extreme winds on Monday and Tuesday that have caused damaging wildfires across the Texas Panhandle, two regional quarterfinal matchups had to be pushed to Wednesday night.

The Canadian and Miami communities were both evacuated on Tuesday due to the severity of the wildfires.

Canadian (17-3) will now play Shallowater (28-2) in a Class 3A regional quarterfinal at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the Caprock Activity Center.

Miami (26-4) has moved its Class 1A regional quarterfinal matchup with Wildorado (29-5) to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Tascosa Activity Center.