In a great game that went into overtime, No. 2 Jayton fell to No. 1 Graford 49-44 in the 1A Boys State Championship game Saturday morning at the Alamodome In San Antonio.
Jayton opened the state title game with a threepointer from Griff Reel and ended the first with a three-pointer from Sean Stanaland to make it 10-10 after one.
The Jaybirds were down eight in the second quarter but cut it to three to trail 21-18 at the half.
In the third, Graford tried a three that was blocked by Stanaland. He grabbed the loose ball, drove and was fouled as he got the layup. That gave Jayton the lead as they started the quarter on a 10-0 run to lead 28-21.
With five players 6-foot-2 or taller, including the 6’8” Colin Roberts and 6’-3” McKennon Lemley, Graford would go on a 9-0 run to lead 33-31 early in the 4th.
Stanaland hit a threepointer with 12 seconds left to tie the game at 41 and forced an overtime.
Stanaland led Jayton with 22 points. Reel added 10 points.
The loss was the first for Jayton to a 1A team this season.
Jayton coach Ryan Bleiker gave this assessment to the Abilene Reporter-News: “You don’t often get No. 1 versus No. 2 in the state championship,” he said. “It doesn’t work that way all the time. We were able to get 1 versus 2 and then we were able to get overtime in the championship game. (We) played really hard. A couple of breaks here and there and maybe it’s a different story. But Graford is so well-coached and so talented. They never broke down either. That’s an extremely tough team.”
The Jaybirds finish the season 38-3.
Jayton was making their third state tournament appearance after consecutive trips in 2019 and 2020. They reached the finals in 2019.
Graford was making its ninth appearance in the state tournament and third in the state finals.
SEMINFINAL GAME: JAYTON 46, McMULLEN COUNTY 36 To earn the chance to play for the State Championship versus Graford, Jayton had to first defeat McMullen County in the Class 1A state semifinal game Thursday morning at the Alamodome.
Nathaniel Williams scored 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds – both game highs – to lead No. 2 Jayton past No. 3 Tilden McMullen County 46-36.
Sean Stanaland added eight points, and Griff Reel had 11 rebounds in the McMullen game as the Jaybirds set up the showdown
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