Panthers scrap past Wildcats, 48-45

SCHULENBURG--Technically, it was a basketball game -- but it could well have been two ancient gladiators stabbing and parrying, two prize fighters duking it out or two chess masters matching wits.
In the end, the Burton Panthers scrapped their way to a 48-45 victory over the Waelder Wildcats Monday in a Class 1A boys’ basketball regional quarterfinal playoff at the Schulenburg High School Gym.
It was a revenge of sorts for the Panthers, who’d been victimized twice during the regular season by the Wildcats, and sends them on to the regional tournament whiel Waelder ends a fine season with a 24-10 record.
“They made the adjustments,” Waelder coach Jarvin Hall said. “They’re a very athletic and well-coached team.”
It was a tooth-and-claw, nip-and-tuck, back-and-forth battle from buzzer to buzzer, with eight lead changes and the biggest point differential being a six-point lead by Burton midway through the final period. And it wasn’t over until the Wildcats rebounded a missed Panther free throw with five seconds left and Dontrai Houston’s off-balancde three-point try came up off-target.
 “Dontrai Houston put this team on his shoulders tonight and carried us,” Hall said after the junior scored 24 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in the effort. “Our outside shots weren’t falling, and he came through for us.”
The Panthers got a superlative performance of their own from sophomore Xavier Bethany, who scored 21 points before running into foul trouble and finishing with 22. Bethany and Houston were the only players to score in double figures as the teams’ defenses were smothering.
Burton scored the game’s first six points, but Waelder came back and went ahead 7-6 late in the opening period on a driving layup by Chris Sirilo, who added a free throw on the play. An outside bucket by Gabriel Patterson put the Panthers back on top entering the second quarter.
Six of the lead changes came in the second quarter as the teams traded carefully-placed shots. Burton was dominant on the offensive boards, but only when it could get through the Wildcats’ tenacious zone. On the other end of the court, Houston was able to penetrate Burton’s zone but the Panthers kept Waelder’s other top gun, Corey Wilson, in check and Wilson finished the game scoreless.
The Wildcats took their biggest lead at 20-16 with 1:53 left in the first half when Franky Carrillo grabbed a defensive rebound and fed Chris Sirilo on the fast break to make it 20-16. But Burton charged back with three baskets in the final minute of play and took a 22-20 lead at intermission on Montrell Crenshaw’s layup.
Houston and Carrillo canned shots to put Waelder back on top to start the third quarter, but Burton charged back on three straight baskets by Bethany to regain the lead at 29-24. Houston tied it again with a three-points hot moments later after a pair of free throws, and the final quarter opened with the Panthers clinging to a 35-32 edge.
Houston hit the front end fo a one-and-one and then added a drive the length of the court to tie the game at 35 with 6:18 to play before the Panthers surged again despite Bethany laying off with four fouls.
Crenshaw had two baskets and Bobby Mathis added a third as Burton built a six-point lead, 41-35, with 4:27 left.
Waelder came back, however, as Torrey Fields made an acrobatic follow-up jumper and Houston scored twice more, spliced around two Burton free throws, to make it a 43-41 game with 2:17 left.
The Pantehrs got a driving layup from Mathis and a free shot by patterson to make it 46-41, but Waelder answered when Sirilo took a dish from Houston to drain a three-point bucket with 1:33 left.
Houston made it a one-point game with 50 seconds remaining when he hit the back end of a two-shot foul, but Burton cemented its margin seconds later when Brandon Green took a feed inside for a layup.
The Wildcats fouled after Mathis rebounded a missed three-point shot and he missed the front end of a one-and-one with five seconds left, but Houston’s hurried attempt to launch a tying three-pointer came up off the mark.
“We’re losing a good group of kids, but life is bigger than basketball,” said Nash. “These kids are unselfish, and hopefully we’ve taught them a little about life.”
The Wildcats reached the quarterfinal match with a 69-61 win over Fayetteville in the area round on Friday.
In that contest, Wilson led the way with 22 points and Carrillo had 20, while Houston scored 13 and Sirilo chipped in 11.