Duncanville contains Zuby Ejiofor, advances to Texas 6A boys basketball state semifinals again
DALLAS, Texas - The Duncanville Panthers are headed back to the state tournament.
Ron Holland scored 15 points and Duncanville (33-1) played smothering defense to beat Garland 61-38 in the 6A Region II championship on Saturday at Ellis Davis Fieldhouse.
The Panthers came out on fire, opening the game on a 17-0 run. Garland didn't score its first points until there were two minutes left in the first quarter.
In addition to playing stingy defense the Panthers also shot the ball well from three-point range.
After the game, Duncanville head coach David Peavy detailed what he liked from his team in the opening minutes and how they jumped out to their early lead.
“We don’t do a lot of scouting reports,” Peavy said. “So when we get to the playoffs and start doing scouting reports, the further we go the more intense they get. They didn’t take it too well yesterday, so today we talked about how important it is to stay focused on our scouting report. These guys were locked in today.”
Garland cut into Duncanville's lead in the second quarter thanks to better defense and a big quarter from Zuby Ejiofor, who finished the game with 16 points.
As the second half ended, a scuffle emerged between the teams as Anthony Black and Ejiofor exchanged words after a collision. But Black had nothing but praise for Ejiofor after the game.
“He’s a great player,” Black said. “He’s going to Kansas for a reason. Super talented, freak athlete, and super strong. It was a tough matchup for us and he’s a good player.”
“Garland is a really, really, well-coached team,” said Holland after the game. “They’ve got a big dude (Ejiofor). They’ve got a lot of good role players, but our key thing was to keep him off the boards as best as we could.”
The Panthers managed to find their groove again late in the third quarter, expanding their lead to 19 points heading into the final eight minutes.
By the fourth quarter, the celebrations began to take place as the Panthers had all but secured their third state semifinal appearance in four years.
“It’s a lot of hard work,” Peavy said. “It’s good that they get to celebrate for a minute. We get back to work on Monday. This is hard and I don’t think people realize how hard it is to continue to do what we’re doing but these guys are resilient and locked in and I’m just proud of them.”
Duncanville will take the court again Friday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio in the UIL 6A state semifinals.
