Published: March 08, 2008 12:17 am            

New Waverly stumbles in semifinals

AUSTIN — A fantastic season came to an abrupt end Friday morning at the Erwin Center, home of the Texas Longhorns.

Third-ranked New Waverly, a youthful basketball team that won 32 games in the regular season, rolled undefeated through district and made come-from-behind postseason victories look easy, ran into a team from the West Texas town of Tuscola that was far better on this particular day.

The Jim Ned Indians blew past the Bulldogs 62-41 in the Class 2A state semifinals in front of 9,613 fans, many of whom woke up long before the crack of dawn to be in Austin for the big game.

Badly, Jim Ned beat the Bulldogs on the boards. The Indians controlled the pace of play, and defensively, they put the clamps on New Waverly.

The Bulldogs hit only 15-of-66 shots from the field, they pulled down 30 rebounds and they could not stop Jim Ned, which ripped down 50 rebounds and scored 38 points in the paint.

“They definitely limited us to one shot, and they definitely, definitely did a good job on the rebounding end of it,” New Waverly coach Billy Goffney said, giving props to the Dogs’ spirited semifinal opponent. “Our outside shots weren’t falling today. We never got it going from behind the arc. We never got it going from the field, but the kids did a good job staying in there and fighting to the end.”

That’s for sure. New Waverly, which finished a magical season with a 36-3 record, fell behind by as many as 24 points in the fourth quarter, but they never quit.

Senior Jarvice Sykes scored his final basket in a Bulldog uniform with 2:41 left in the game to make it 56-36. After Indians forward Jordan Coffman threw down a dunk, junior Joseph Carrington hustled to grab an offensive rebound. He scored and was fouled, setting up an old-fashioned three-point play that again made the margin 20 points.

Goffney thinks Friday’s game is just the start of something special for New Waverly basketball. A standout player for the Bulldog team that advanced to the regional finals in 1986, Goffney believes the Bulldogs soon will be back in the big city, possibly playing for a state championship.

“We’re losing Jarvice and some seniors but we still have a great nucleus here,” Goffney said. “They’ve got the taste in their mouths. I know them pretty well and I know they’ll be pretty hungry.”

        

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