Clarendon’s Jmaury Davis blows past a Christoval defender during a Region I-2A championship game at the Texan Dome in Levelland on Saturday. [Autumn Bippert/ For Press Pass Sports]
LEVELLAND— With the season on the line, Clarendon’s Jmaury Davis took things into his own hands in the fourth quarter to assure the Broncos weren’t going home anytime soon.
Davis dominated the fourth quarter, and because of his outstanding effort, Clarendon downed upset minded Christoval 60-49 In the Region I-2A championship at the Texan Dome on the campus of South Plains College on Saturday.
The No. 2-ranked Broncos (29-2) advance back to San Antonio’s AlamoDome for a second straight season, and are more than ready to defend what’s theirs.
“We try not to talk about it a lot,” Clarendon head coach Boston Hudson said. “But in the back of everyone’s mind we know the pressure to get back to state is there. We’ve been ranked up there all year, we had most of our guys back, so we were expected to be here. I’m proud of how we stay composed and closed this game out.”
After embarrassing Christoval 51-30 in the regional semifinals last year, this seasons matchup was far more competitive.
The Cougars (27-6) came out on fire behind three straight 3-pointers by Jaron Slaton to take a 9-0 lead early in the first.
Clarendon took back the momentum by the second quarter ending the half on an 11-2 run to go up 32-25 at the break. But once again, here came Christoval. The Cougars got hot while the Broncos went ice cold in the third as Christoval took a shocking 39-37 lead after three.
However, big time players step up in clutch moments, and that’s what Davis did for his Broncos. Davis opened the fourth quarter with a put back jumper, then a steal for a layup, followed by an 18-foot jumper for his own personal 6-0 run that gave Clarendon back the advantage 43-39. Moments later, Davis stole the show off an alley oop finishing with a thunderous dunk that roared the Clarendon crowd, putting the Broncos up 49-41 and they’d never look back.
“Coach Hudson got on us in the huddle before the fourth quarter,” Davis said. “That motivated us. I’m known for bringing the momentum back to the team when we need it. We were a little low, so I wanted us to get back to rolling.”
Hudson agreed with Davis’ comments.
“We weren’t shooting it well from outside,” Hudson said. “I told the team, just get the ball to Jmaury inside. It fortunately worked out, and I think we started pressuring the ball and that got us into transition. But hats off to Christoval they played a heck of a game.”
Davis scored 11 of his 19 points in the final eight minutes. Teammate and point guard Lamarcus Penigar poured in a game-high 21 points.
Slaton led all scorers with 23 behind seven 3-pointers.
Clarendon 13 32 37 60
Christoval 15 25 39 49
Cl— Lemarcus Penigar 21, Jmaury Davis 19, Jordan Herndon 9. Chr— Jaron Slaton 23, Josh Fava 14, Sevastian Salinas 6. Records: Christoval 27-6. Clarendon 29-2.