HS Boys Basketball Playoffs: Grizzlies Fall in Regional Semifinals Despite Motivated Fight

FAIRFIELD, TX -- An impressive season came to a bitter end for Grand Oaks in an 84-64 neutral-site defeat at the hands of the Duncanville Panthers.

The Grizzlies thoroughly handled business against Cypress Woods in a 78-36 Area matchup to reach the third round, but a much tougher test awaited them in the Regional Semis.

Duncanville sits as the 9th-best team in Texas and a top-100 team in the country according to MaxPreps. With the pressure of a high-caliber opponent ahead of them and a chance to continue the season, Grand Oaks had to fire on all cylinders to keep the journey alive.

In an exclusive interview with The Woodlands Online Sports, Grand Oaks Head Coach Anthony Stephens discussed his estimation of the Panthers and how the team prepared for its toughest test yet.

“It was just keeping the main thing the main thing,” emphasized Stephens. “Continue the things that got us here.”

Despite the Panthers' prestige and state-leading talent, Grand Oaks’ opening execution and size advantage on the offensive glass gave the team a solid start.

Jadyn Murray and Ebube Joseph feasted on the offensive glass, giving the Grizzlies multiple second-chance opportunities on their possessions. These rebounds were either quickly put back for easy twos or led to fast passes to the perimeter, where the waiting Grizzly shooters sank their early looks.

The Panthers kept pace offensively with a handful of threes on their possessions, but zero traction on defense kept the Grizzlies in front due to their 5-0 opening run.

“It’s extremely important to start out fast and start out good against really good teams,” said Stephens. “You start out flat against a good team and you’re going to be digging yourself out of a hole the entire game.”

Duncanville’s ability to stretch the floor eventually wore down the Grizzlies. The sheer pace of threes hit by the Panthers outpaced Grand Oaks’ inside game by the two-minute mark in the first.

The previously reliable Grizzly inside game was worked out of the paint by aggressive defenders positioning themselves for inside leverage.

With their offensive mostly shut down and the Panthers charging on offense, an 8-0 Duncanville run swung enough momentum to their side to secure a two-possession lead at the end of the first.

Unless stops came around the three-point line, the 21-17 Panther lead would quickly swell out of control and the Grizzly season would be in severe jeopardy.

“I tried to tell the guys that we had to be there on all catches,” said Stephens. “We had to talk on screens, guard to guard, cause if we didn’t, they were going to make us pay.”

Duncanville’s opening possession established an early tone of offensive prowess, as another buried three led to an and-one chance for the stampeding Panthers. The four-point play set the highest lead for either team at a 7-point Duncanville advantage just seconds into the second quarter.

Grand Oaks tried to respond with their usual scorers finding space around the arch, but the frequency of missed shots and decreased rebounding kept the Grizzlies behind on the scoreboard.

An increase in turnovers also scuttled Grand Oaks’ offensive possessions by ending them before a shot could be taken.

It took a roughly equal number of Panther turnovers and miscues for the Grizzlies to fight their way back on the scoreboard. A 6-0 run of layups and acrobatic shots near the rim bit into the nearly double-digit lead to bring the game back to a one-basket contest.

But just as quickly as they had lost their lead, the Panthers sprinted back out on offense to regain their momentum midway through the second.

Fouls from the Grizzlies sent the Panthers to the charity stripe for free throws while lobs into the paint saw Duncanville’s high-flyers slam home highlight reel dunks that sucked the air out of the Grand Oaks defense.

The suffocating string of free throws, dunks, and a long-distance three sent the Panthers on another game-leading run of 12 uncontested points. This run before the halftime break established the largest lead of the night, pushing Dunanville's margin to 14.

The lead weighed heavy on the scoreboard, but the relentless play by the Grizzlies to overcome before the half was equal in measure.

The scrappy Grand Oaks offense tried drives at the rim, attempts from behind the arch, and passes into the defensive interior to take some control away from the Panthers before the halftime buzzer.

Unfortunately, a costly turnover led to a Panther three that buried Grand Oaks in a 32-47 deficit with one-half remaining to create a solution. A stop to Duncanville’s shooting and the 27-point outing from Kayden Edwards needed to materialize.

“We had to rebound better,” stated Stephens. “We had to understand that we weren’t going to get back into the game with just one score. We had to string them together.”

Time to strategize before the second half saw the third quarter start eerily similar to the first.

A solid surge by the Grizzly bigs snagged high-percentage looks near the rim, while a step-back three from Trae Lewis reestablished some of the shooting tendencies that had carried the Grizzlies through a large portion of the season.

Luckily for the Panthers, the inside game was stronger than it had been for most of the game.

The Grizzly defenders were forced to stretch out farther to limit the potential for dagger threes. With the defenders guarding the perimeter, Duncanville’s use of the pump-fake sent Grand Oaks’ defenders skyward before crashing the lane for inside twos.

However, Duncanville’s focus on twos over threes saw their production dip to a manageable flow that could be matched by the weathering Grizzlies.

The Duncanville lead had nearly reached 20, but execution against the grain meant the Grizzlies were slowly regaining control. The approach steadily took points back, eventually bringing the Panther lead back down to single digits midway through the quarter.

But once again, the Panthers adjusted on the fly to take back the ground they had previously lost on the scoreboard.

A shift away from their dribble-penetrate offense saw the Panthers reopen the three-point line to great efficiency. Corner shots shrunk the distance needed for threes, and Duncanville surged on another run that put the team back up by 13.

Duncanville’s late push to end the third quarter rewarded the team with a 66-53 lead with eight minutes left to crown a winner.

The two-point Grand Oaks advantage on the quarter hinted at the remaining fight the Grizzlies possessed, but the need to close out and maintain momentum had to be found.

Back-and-forth scoring kept the play from becoming a blowout, but it also played into Duncanville’s hand.

The Grizzlies needed to build large runs to erase the Duncanville lead, while the Panthers just needed to coast and ensure a positive or lightly negative scoring margin to lock up the victory.

Grand Oaks threw their offense into overdrive during the fourth quarter, trying everything in their offensive schemes to break past defenders while moving fast enough to salvage time for the hopeful comeback.

The strategy worked in getting past the Panther defense but few stops on Grand Oaks’ side meant the leading Panthers were free to score at their usual pace.

Duncanville was so effective in their late attack that they stretched the lead to yet another game-high. 22 points in the Panthers’ favor set the new high mark for either team at a junction where every point had to be overcome in rapidly decreasing time.

Coach Stephens tried to stop the bleeding with timeouts following Grizzly makes, but even the time spent to strategize and get the team set on defense was ineffective in erasing the deficit fast enough.

The Panthers started to noticeably slow their offensive pace with three minutes left in the game. While damaging in eating valuable clock, the reduced tempo gave the Grizzlies chances to poke away passes for transition looks in the open floor.

While not the entire puzzle, it was enough of a piece to give Grand Oaks some hope that the comeback may be possible with a long enough run.

But as the seconds passed, the Grizzlies failed to create a strong enough push late in the game to overcome the mountain of a lead built by the Panthers.

Nearly 20 points in just over two minutes would be a monumental task for any team, especially one staring down one of the best in all of Texas.

The final buzzer sent the Grizzlies packing in a bitter 84-68 loss that acted as the final swansong for many seniors on the Grand Oaks roster.

“They are elite young men. They just happen to play basketball,” said Stephens in praise of his seniors. “They show up every day. Rain, sleet, snow, or sick. I am blessed to be able to coach those guys.”

The final loss ends a fantastic year that highlights the promising tenure of Coach Stephens under the strong Grand Oaks banner.