High school confidential

Dunbar boys playoff bound again

Some things never change. The Dunbar boys are headed back to the playoffs for the 33rd consecutive year, and they still have hopes of grabbing a share of the District 7-4A regular-season title. The Wildcats scored the first 17 points of the game on their way to a 96-60 blowout of Fort Worth Eastern Hills at Wilkerson-Greines Activitiy Center. Keith Parker had 11 of those first 17 points and finished with a career-high 32 for Dunbar, which has won six consecutive games by margins of 53, 29, 19, 76, 24 and 36 points. Jason Smith added 26. The Wildcats (26-5, 12-3) are a game behind Fort Worth Southwest (24-5, 13-2) heading into Tuesday's regular-season finale between the two teams.

-- Lori Dann

Final: FW Eastern Hills 74, FW South Hills 47

Fort Worth Eastern Hills snapped a two-game losing skid with a 74-47 rout of Fort Worth South Hills on Tuesday at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center, and remains in the hunt for a playoff spot in District 7-4A. The Highlanders (15-11, 10-4) entered the game tied with Fort Worth Wyatt for the and final third seed in district, and with the win maintains a one-game lead over Polytechnic (18-9, 9-5). Eastern Hills raced out to an 11-point lead after the first period, and a 36-20 advantage at intermission. The Highlanders were led by 14 points from Brandon Broadnax, while teammate Dwaine Guyton added 13 and Daivon McLucas scored 11. South Hills (4-23, 2-12) got 12 points each from Walter Pearson and Robert Lewis, and 10 from Calvin Scott-Butler. Eastern Hills finishes the district schedule with games against Fort Worth Dunbar and Fort Worth Carter-Riverside.

Dunbar's losses were a long time coming

When Dunbar lost a 92-84 decision to Eastern Hills last week, it ended a 37-game district winning streak. Now, after this week’s 105-98 loss to Southwest, the Wildcats have lost two out of three district games.
But coach Robert Hughes Jr. isn’t concerned. That’s just the cost of doing business in Fort Worth basketball, he figures.
"We’ve just played a couple of good teams," he said. "We’ll see what happens. In this district, you can’t tell who’s going to wind up in the top three. It’s definitely going to go down to the wire."
For Hughes Jr., the losses were his first in district with the Wildcats. They were 14-0 in his first season and 16-0 last season. They began 6-0 in district this season.
The 37-game district winning season began the game after a 56-54 loss to Polytechnic on Feb. 11, 2005, Robert Hughes Sr.’s last season as coach.

Wyatt hands Eastern Hills boys first loss in 7-4A

Wyatt has been a good team this season. And it has been a not-so-good team.

"We're just inconsistent," coach Rodney McFadden said.

Thursday night, in the second half of a District 7-4A game against Eastern Hills, the Chaparrals were a good team.

They scored on eight of their first 11 trips of the third quarter to get going on their way to a 58-51 victory at Wilkerson-Greines AC. The Chaps (7-9, 3-3) had trailed 28-22 in the opening minute of the third quarter. Their comeback left Eastern Hills (8-6, 4-1) with its first loss in 7-4A games.

J'armani Elzy had 16 points for Wyatt on 8-of-9 shooting, and James Wooden had 13 points and 13 rebounds.

Dwaine Guyton had 15 for Eastern Hills.

Free throws key for Eastern Hills in win

By DREW DAVISON
Special to the Star-Telegram

It was a game that was ultimately decided at the foul line with both Eastern Hills and Polytechnic combining for 49 personal fouls on Tuesday night.

With three minutes remaining in the game, Eastern Hills scored seven unanswered points, including five-of-six free throws, to pull away from Polytechnic, 61-55, to open District 7-4A play at the Wilkerson-Greines Activities Center.

Highlanders coach Felley Donaldson said his team, which ended up making 24-of-35 free throws on the night, just needed to make adjustments with how tightly the game was being called.

“Maybe we came out too strong on the defensive end and being too aggressive,” Donaldson said. “We had to sit some of our players at the start of the third quarter, and we struggled. They did too, though. We had to adjust and we did.”

Eastern Hills not only outscored Polytechnic in the fourth quarter by 11 points, but also committed only two fouls compared to the Parrots’ nine.

Also in the fourth quarter, the Highlanders held the Parrots post players, Daruis Richardson and Aaron McCuin, to two points combined, after they accounted for 26 points the first three quarters for Polytechnic.

“We knew coming in that we had a small ball club,” Donaldson said. “We’re a scrappy team and we showed it tonight.”

Especially Highlander guard Daylon Guy, who had a game-high 22 points, as well as forward Brandon Broadnax, who scored 10 of his 11 points in the second half.

Polytechnic bounced back from a five-point deficit in the first quarter, scoring nine consecutive points in the second quarter to take their first lead, 17-14. The Parrots sustained that lead, heading into halftime with a 29-27 advantage.

The Highlanders answered, though, retaking the lead early in the third quarter. After a back-and-forth battle to close out the third quarter, Polytechnic eventually headed to the fourth quarter with a five-point lead.

Eastern Hills dwindled that lead down throughout the fourth quarter and held a late Polytechnic charge to get its first district victory.

“I told my team that these are the games that count,” Donaldson said. “If we want to make that trip down I-35, these are the games we have to win.”

Both teams have a week off before their next game - Eastern Hills faces Arlington Heights, while Polytechnic meets Southwest - both on Dec. 11 at Billingsley Field House.