The best thing about Jayton’s 2020 state tournament appearance was that it happened.
Many Texas teams never got to take the court after the University Interscholastic League suspended action on the 2020 boys’ basketball tournament as a response to concern over the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
Coach Ryan Bleiker’s No. 8 Jaybirds fell 45-28 to No. 5 Slidell (Wise County) in the second of two Class 1A state semifinal games—one of just four contests completed before the UIL suspension.
In the rematch of last year’s title game, Slidell held Jayton to just eight field goals and forced 18 turnovers in a dominating victory at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Jayton, which finished the year at 31-4, fell one win shy of last year’s state runner-up finish—and to the same opponent that ended the Jaybirds’ title hopes a year ago.
Bleiker’s team held the Greyhounds, the defending 1A state champions, to their fifth-lowest scoring total of the year. But the Jaybirds struggled with their own offense.
Slidell held Jayton to just 19.5 percent shooting, building a 23-12 lead by halftime before putting the game away with a 13-7 run through the third quarter.
The loss marked the final high school basketball game for Jayton’s five seniors, a group that includes Tye Scogin, Aaron Hernandez, Alex Chisum, Thomas Mullen and Hunter Gilbert.
The uncompleted games were said to be “postponed” in a press release sent out by the UIL Thursday afternoon, which simply listed “until further notice” as its timetable for a decision.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.
