What felt like a tale of two halves where either team could win down the stretch, it was Randall standing tall in the end holding off a valiant Canyon squad 56-53 to make it a second straight trip to the UIL Class 4A state tournament in San Antonio.
It was also a fourth straight win for Randall over Canyon (23-11) in six meetings over a calendar year.
This was special for multiple reasons for the Raiders (34-3 overall) that have dealt with adversity all season. Legendary coach Leslie Broadhurst, who is about to start chemotherapy on March 11 for a brain tumor, and close to a month removed from brain surgery was on the sideline helping interim and longtime assistant Trevor Johnson.
Now with the full support of his team, his community and the Texas Panhandle, Broadhurst, Johnson and the Raiders will once again get a chance to finish their story.
“It’s something we dreamed about since last year,” Broadhurst said. “We made a motto to finish. We’ve been working on this for almost a year. These guys are following through with the plan. The Texas Panhandle has been so great to us and this team, so we want to go represent them proudly. We appreciate everything so much.”
Johnson echoed Broadhurst’s comment.
“This has been the toughest month of my life,” Johnson said. “There is a ton of pressure on us but luckily I have an amazing wife and family. We have an amazing team that is unbelievable. Not any team can do what we did the last month. I’m proud to be their coach. Last year was unbelievable and I didn’t think it could be topped but this one may take the cake.”
KJ Thomas.
Randall’s senior sensation was the best player on the floor and stepped up when called upon to lead the Raiders to their biggest victory to date.
KJ got off to a fast start scoring 19 first half points that helped Randall build a 31-18 lead midway through the first half.
However, Canyon head coach Travis Schulte and his staff made an adjustment at halftime switching up the defense to make things difficult for the sharpshooter.
Canyon moved into a 1-2-2 and 2-3 zone that hampered Johnson and slowed the Randall offense down. Johnson’s 19th point came at the 3:48 mark of the second quarter and he didn’t find his next bucket until the 3:58 mark of the fourth.
But that’s when the spark happened for the UTEP signee. KJ made a layup then got an immediate steal with another layup putting the Raiders up for good 50-49 with 3:35 remaining. Johnson then went on to drain two free-throws, and a jumper capping an 8-0 run that put Randall up 54-49 with 1:40 to play.
“I felt like that layup and steal were huge,” Thomas said. “That changed the momentum and got us going again. Canyon had a really good game-plan switching to their zone. It hurt us but we got going and we didn’t want to lose. My teammates and I were going to do anything to win.”
Schulte was amazed by Thomas’ effort in the clutch moments.
“We played man-to-man early and went to a 1-2-2 and then to a zone,” Schulte said. “That gave them a lot of trouble in the second half. KJ is just special, and he started splitting that zone. He’s such a great player.”
“We’re an attacking basketball team,” Trevor Johnson said. “We needed to find ways to get to the paint and make plays happen. We were able to do that in the fourth quarter and make that zone collapse and make big shots. The steal mid fourth quarter was huge momentum shift. Everyone looks at KJ’s offense, but his defense is pretty dang good. He found a way to go find a way to win the game for us. That’s why he is who he is.”
The Eagles clawed back giving themselves a chance in final seconds. After a pair of Johnson free-throws making it 56-53 Randall with 12.6 to play in the game, Canyon’s Gage Lunsford drove the ball up the floor attempting a game-tying 3-pointer from the left wing with just under three seconds left but his shot hit the back iron as Randall was able to survive.
“Randall is really good,” Schulte said. “I thought our team gave every ounce of everything we had. We had to battle through foul trouble early. We had our All-State (Kelson Jones) player on the bench with three fouls in the first half and you think what we do now. We had guys come in and play big minutes for us. We were down 11 with four to play to halftime and we cut it into five by halftime. It just shows how hard we play and how bought in you are. I am like a proud dad. We fight for each other. There is a lot of pride there.”
Canyon had two separate 10-2 runs in the second and third quarter and had all the momentum up 49-46 with 5:12 to play in the fourth until KJ took over.
KJ was named the regional tournament MVP delivering 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting and was 8-for-11 from the free-throw line. He also added four assists. Teammate Devin Baccas had nine points with five boards and Tayesen Combs tallied eight.
Jones was electric for Canyon especially in the second half scoring 14 points with teammate Isaiah Dunnam getting a team-high 15.
Randall shot superb the entire way going 20-of-35 (57.1 percent) from the field and was 13-for-17 from the charity stripe. The Raiders also beat the Eagles in the points in the paint and 15-4 in fastbreak points.
Canyon ended the game 20-of-44 from the field (45.5 percent) and were 8-for-13 from the free-throw line.