Domination on the boards was the key to Valley winning its UIL Class 1A Division I state semifinal game over Munday, 44-33, Monday night at the Texan Dome in Levelland.
The win puts the Patriots back in the UIL Class 1A Division I state championship game for a second straight year, as Valley looks for its first ever state title in boys’ basketball.
The Patriots (29-4) are now set to battle Fayetteville (31-6) at 11 a.m. on Thursday morning at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The Lions defeated Huckaby Monday night, 71-67, to advance.
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This will mark the second straight year Valley will face off with a hot shooting team in San Antonio.
Perrin-Whitt was 11-of-23 from beyond the arc in last year’s 65-46 win over the Patriots. The 3-point shot is the Lions specialty as they have attempted more than a 1,000 shots from the 3-point line this season and average 66 points per game.
Fayetteville also enters the game holding the national record by making 40 3-pointers in a blow out win over Buckholts, 120-25 earlier in the year.
Returning to San Antonio has been on the mind of the Patriots since last year’s finals loss and head coach Aaron Green was thrilled with the win but laser focused on Thursday’s game.
“This feels great especially after last year when we didn’t get the job done,” Green said. “This team has talked about it since last year and we are going back again to try and take care of unfinished business”.
A big reason the Patriots are headed back to the Alamodome was their ability to control the boards all night long. The Moguls were unable to get second chance points for most of the game as the Patriots big brother combo, Kanyon and Corbin Taylor, along with Carson Tucker dominated the paint. That domination was exactly what Valley’s head man was looking for.
“We really stressed hitting the boards and limiting their shots,” Green said. “We knew if we could do that, we would have a good shot to win.”.
Kanyon Taylor backed up his coaches’ comments.
“Jariyis Williams, Munday’s top player, is strong,” Kanyon said. “We knew we had to limit him inside and we did a good job containing them on the glass”.
Both teams used the first quarter as a feeling out period as both squads struggled to score. However, Corbin Taylor hit a 3-point shot from the right corner with 19 seconds left in the period to give Valley a 9-6 lead.
That shot from Taylor became a spark for the Patriots in the second quarter. Valley opened the period on an 11-0 run highlighted by two big dunks from the Taylor’s. Up 14-6, Corbin Taylor took the ball on the right elbow, faked a move to the middle then spun around Williams and took two steps toward the basket before using both hands to put the ball through the rim with authority.
Not to be outdone, Kanyon Taylor finished off the run after receiving the pass inside and the 6-foot-10 senior went straight up and flushed one down to give Valley a 20-6 lead. Munday finally got untracked at the three-minute mark as Williams, their leading scorer, put up a shot at the rim for his first two points of the game.
By the time the second quarter had ended, the Patriots had outscored the Moguls 17-5 to lead at half 26-11. Munday came out in the second half looking to turn up the pressure but Tucker and Damian Valdes consistently broke the press which was key to Valley maintaining its lead in the second half.
Kanyon Taylor continued Valley’s domination by notching seven of his 13 points in that third quarter which he ended with his second dominating dunk of the game to extend the lead to 18 and squash any thought the Moguls had of making a comeback.
Corbin Taylor finished the night leading all scorers with 16 points and Tucker poured in 10 to give the Patriots three scorers in double figures.
Munday’s Williams was held to 11 points on the evening as the Moguls offense was cold from the field before finally finding a rhythm in the fourth quarter with 14 of their 33 points coming in the last stanza.