Amarillo High’s Braden Hausen (14) celebrates with teammate Xa Landry-Britton during the Sandies 66-53 win at Palo Duro on Friday night. [Ben Jenkins/ Press Pass Sports]
With a District 3-5A championship on the line Friday night, the Amarillo High and Palo Duro boys made sure things were as festive as they could be on the penultimate night of the regular season at the Palo Duro Activity Center.
When things were finally settled, though, it was no surprise that Amarillo High left the building in the same position as the previous two seasons – district champion.
Palo Duro seemed to shake off any “underdog” talk at the outset, taking the early lead on the district leading Sandies. But the Sandies showed why they’re ranked No. 4 in the state by taking control of the game in the middle two quarters and holding off a late rally in the fourth quarter for a 66-53 victory which gave them their third straight district title.
Amarillo High (27-6, 9-0 in district) remained unbeaten in district and the Sandies can claim their second unbeaten district season in three years by winning at Tascosa next Tuesday to close the regular season. The Sandies have been a target in town due to their recent success, and that proved no different against Palo Duro (23-5, 7-2), which will be the district’s No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
“Our kids understood what this was going to be about,” AHS coach Jason Pillion said. “They Palo Duro was going to come out firing and they did. Give a lot of credit to coach (Jeff) Evans and their kids. They understand the aggressiveness you’ve got to have in a game like this.”
The first half was as spirited and intense as would be expected between two crosstown rivals fighting for district supremacy. Palo Duro got the upper hand in the first quarter but Amarillo High dominated in the second quarter to take a 35-27 halftime lead.
Palo Duro was zeroed in from outside in the first quarter, hitting five 3-pointers to take a 19-14 lead after leading by as many as eight points. Four Dons hit threes in the opening quarter as they finished with 12 for the game.
But things changed in the second quarter, as Amarillo High applied the defensive clamps and picked up the tempo. The Sandies chipped PD’s lead to 22-20, then went on a 15-2 run to take control of the game.
Brendan Hausen, who torched the Dons for 30 points on eight 3-pointers in the first meeting, had four threes in the first half and had eight points in the second quarter to lead Amarillo High. The Sandies hit eight threes in the first half, and Cooper Pillion and Braden Hausen came off the bench to combine for three 3-pointers and 11 points.
For Brendan Hausen, who had a game-high 23 points and leads a trio of talented four-year starters, it was a special way to end his final game at the PD gym.
“We’ve talked about enjoying this because this is our last ride together,” said Hausen, who will be playing at Villanova next year. “We’ve all be talking about this since we were little kids playing together, Damonze (Woods), Cade (Hornecker) and me, it’s all we dreamed about. Last year we came over here and lost and we weren’t ready. I think this year we were more locked in and we weren’t satisfied.”
Appropriately enough, it was Hausen, Hornecker and Woods who made sure the Sandies got a comfortable cushion in the third quarter. After a quiet first half, the 6-foot-11 Hornecker led the Sandies with nine points in the third quarter and finished with 13. Woods, who otherwise didn’t score in the game, had six in the quarter.
The dagger, though, was supplied by Hausen, who hit a 3-pointer at the end of the period to give the Sandies their biggest lead of the game, 59-41.
But the Dons didn’t lie down easily. They opened the quarter with eight straight points and cut it to 59-49, and still had an outside shot. However, they were unable to pull any closer than eight the rest of the way.
“Obviously (the Sandies) are a very good team and you’re going to have to play very hard and very tough to have a shot and have a lot of things go right for you,” PD coach Jeff Evans said. “I was proud of our kids effort. I thought we spurred some runs for them with some untimely turnovers that hurt us. They deserve some credit for that with their activity on defense and their length.”
Those are some of the elements which have resulted in unprecedented success the last three seasons at Amarillo High, including a berth in the state semifinals last year. But a district championship is always special.
“It means a lot,” Pillion said. “These kids work hard as you can see from the reaction. It’s important to us so we’re excited. To win against a really good opponent in a tough environment will also bode well for us later.”
Audi Luckey had 13 points for Palo Duro, and kept the Dons in the game by scoring 11 of those in the second half. Kadden Price added 11.
Xa Landry-Britton had 10 points for Amarillo High, who also had a big night from beyond the arc by hitting 10 3-pointers.
Amarillo High 14 35 59 66
Palo Duro 19 27 41 53
AHS— Brendan Hausen 23, Cade Hornecker 13, Xa Landry-Britton 10. PD— Audi Luckey 13, Kadden Price 11. Records: Amarillo High 27-6, 9-0; Palo Duro 23-5, 7-2.