THE SHOT HEARD DOWN 35
AUSTIN BOWIE VS SAN ANTONIO CLARK RECAP
Playoff time!!! Round 3 you get to see the best of the best go head to head most of the time. In this case you have 2 solid teams. Coming in with a talented senior class is Austin Bowie. They come in after knocking off district champion Judson in the previous round so they come in confident. They have one of the best shooters in the state in Army signee Coleton Benson to go along with some good size at other positions. They were up against a solid SA Clark group; the district 28 champs. Clark comes in on a high after beating Hutto Thursday night in a tight game. Clark features guards ’21 Daylon Whitlock and ’22 Jordan Mason and’21 El Emerllahu who can score and make plays so it had the makings of a strong matchup with several college prospects on the floor.
Austin Bowie has a solid backcourt. To go along with the before mentioned Benson is 6’5 LD Butler. Butler was solid throughout in this one making plays, slashing and scoring around the rim. But as mentioned earlier; Benson being one of the state best got off to a hot start. Showing his ability to shoot it from deep on a couple of them. On display was how well he moves without the ball. The 2 combined for 14 of the teams 18 1st qtr points.
Clark has several players who can score it and one of them is senior El Emerllhau. His versatility with his size and skill set poses a problem for teams to match up. He showed his 3 point range, mid range and ability to put it on the floor some. Also in on the early scoring was wing ‘ 21Will Harris. Harris scored it in multiple ways early moving without it and getting some easy looks at mid range and the hit from 3. At the end of 1 Bowie led by 6.
In the 2nd qtr some solid adjustments were made on both ends defensively to slow down each teams strengths. Bowie countered with some solid minutes by Branden Myart and some strong play inside by Nathan Thompson. Thompson (10pts) had a relatively strong game inside on the glass and rim protecting. Showed soft touch at the elbow as well.
For Clark ’22 Jordan Mason settled in and made some solid plays creating some easy ones for his teammates and also scoring the ball himself. A point guard with good size and handle, put a lot of pressure on defenders. Had a solid game rebounding the ball as well.
In the 3rd SA Clark came out of the half and turned up their defensive intensity. They also matched Bowie’s size with some of their own. ’22 Jakobi White was a big part of this spark . Good length and bounce to go along with a good motor allowed him and others to make plays leading to a huge momentum shift. The biggest adjustment was ’21 Dalen Whitlock and his defensive assignment on Benson. His length and activity helped disrupt some of what Bowie wanted to do and it helped Clark take the lead. Bowe was held to 7pts in the 3rd. Most of those points came by way of Butler (13pts) for the game. Knifing his way in traffic and also being active with his length helped stop some of the bleeding.
With Clark now leading by 2 going into the 4th and each possession mattered; they put the ball in Mason’s hand and he delivered in a big way. Multiple times he was able to get by defenders and hit mid range pull ups. On the opposite end with all the attention on Benson, Nathan Thompson stepped up and had a few key buckets to help keep it close. But again Mason made a play at the rim. Going back and forth to include several empty possessions by both teams a big bucket by ’21 Will Harris on the baseline put Clark up 2 and then Coleton Benson 12pts) responded with 2 of his own on a layup to tie it.
A couple more bucket exchanges set the stage; with Bowie having the ball they came up empty on a go ahead opportunity and Clark held it for 1 last possession. A timeout was called with 8.9 secs left and Jordan Mason(14pts) got the entry in the back court, dribbled up the right side and went by the initial defender and crossed over to the left elbow and raised up before the defenders could get there an hit the game winner . SA CLARK 48 AUSTIN BOWIE 46