The Woodlands falls to Lakeview Centennial

The Woodlands High School boys’ basketball team came up just short on Friday, bowing to No. 1 state-ranked Lakeview Centennial 67-64 in a Region II-5A semifinals game at Waco Midway.

Nolan Cass, who hit seven 3-pointers came up just short on a desperation half-court shot at the buzzer.

A frenzied fourth quarter went back and forth with just 19 points scored between the two teams. The Woodlands rallied from a 58-54 deficit with consecutive layups from Brian Nordstrom and Jayme Taylor to tie the game with 6:45 remaining.

Cole gave The Woodlands its final lead, 64-62, with 2:48 left on his seventh 3-pointer.

But Lakeview answered with a 3-point to regain the lead and then ran more than a minute off the clock before scoring again for a 67-64 lead with 47 seconds left to play.

A turnover gave the Patriots the ball but they missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Highlanders had one last gasp.

But it wasn’t to be. The Highlanders’ most prolific season in school history (32-4) came to an end as did their 24-game win streak.

Cass kept the Highlanders in the game with big shots, including a 3-pointer to open the second half that gave them their first lead, 40-38. Caporale followed with a 3 to break a 40-40 tie and the Highlanders went on to grab a 48-42 advantage with 5:47 to play in the third quarter.

But the No. 8 nationally-ranked Patriots (35-1) scored the next six points out of a time-out and tied the game at 48-48.

A Joey Trinkle layup put the Highlanders back in front 50-48 before the Patriots continued on a 10-2 run to take a 54-50 lead with 2:56 left in the third quarter.

It ended up being a 16-4 run for Lakeview Centennial and a 58-52 lead before Nordstrom scored from close range and the Highlanders entered the fourth quarter trailing by four.