The Texline Tornadoes won the Region I-1A championship for a second straight year beating Jayton 52-34 on Saturday at the Texan Dome in Levelland. [Autumn Bippert/ For Press Pass Sports]
LEVELLAND— The No. 1-ranked Texline Tornadoes played tremendous defense and dominated the glass to wear down a feisty Jayton team for a 52-34 win in the Region I-1A Tournament championship at the Texan Dome on the campus of South Plains College on Saturday.
Texline (33-3) is headed back to San Antonio’s Alamodome for the second time in as many years, as the Tornadoes look to defend their reigning UIL Class 1A state championship crown.
Tornadoes head coach, Coby Beckner, was emotional after Saturday’s victory. From November to March the Tornadoes have kept their No. 1-ranking, while taking every teams best challenge. Beckner says that’s what makes his team so special.
“There is a lot of pressure on these guys,” Beckner said. “This team carries the weight of the community on their shoulders, and all they do is respond. I could tell we were a little tight at our shoot around, so we had to help get them loose. But our team is tough, and I’m proud of them.”
Senior leader William Luther echoed Beckner’s comments.
“We came into the season ranked No. 1,” Luther said. “We knew there was going to be a lot of pressure on us to get back to state. But our motto is ‘pressure is a privilege’. We just did our best to stay focused”
Jayton (31-5) took its only brief lead, 19-18, midway through the second quarter. That lead lasted a mere seconds, as Texline answered in a hurry with a Noel Lozano fade away jumper, followed by an Elias Espino 3-pointer. The Tornadoes closed the final 2:30 minutes or the second quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 27-19 lead into halftime.
“We were really got the momentum before halftime,” Beckner said. “We were able to hang on to that momentum throughout the second half.”
In that second half, Texline pushed its lead to 15 in the third quarter, putting the game out of reach from a gutsy Jaybird squad.
Lozano, Texline’s 6-foot-5 post, was strong on both ends of the floor racking up a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
“I think our defense played really well and that was the difference,” Lozano said. “We were able to lock them up and make it hard for them to get in the paint. This is exciting for us, and we just can’t wait to get back to the Alamodome.”
Luther also had a double-double scoring 13 points to go with 13 boards.
Jayton 9 19 28 34
Texline 14 27 38 52
J— Nathaniel Williams 11, Caleb Beck 6, Ben Blankenship 6. T— Noel Lozano 22, Will Luther 13, Elias Espino 7. Records: Jayton 31-5; Texline 33-3.