CTX Tip Off: Game Recaps

High school hoops is finally back in the state of Texas, and several of the Austin area's best teams kicked off their season at the CTX Tip Off Showcase at Concordia University. TexasHoops.com’s Lyndon Cook made his way to Austin to take in the full slate of games from opening weekend, which for the first time featured shot clocks at the high school level.

DJ Thorpe started off his junior campaign like he had something to prove, powering in 35 points for Lake Travis in a dominant win over Anderson. Thorpe was unstoppable on the block and has clearly added polish to his post game and footwork. Lake Travis going to a 1-3-1 zone at times helped kill any rhythm Anderson tried to build on the offensive end, as the Cavs led comfortably for most of the game. Ryan Bormann looked collected at the point guard, scoring 11 to go with 10 from Mercer-signee Luke Hamilton. Adding in Garrett Wilson once the LT football season ends will make this team truly dangerous in 6A. Eric Conner put up 19 to lead Anderson in scoring in their season opener in.

Pflugerville was able to cut their deficit to a single point late in the 4th, but good execution on the other end was enough to hand Shoemaker an 8-point opening weekend win. Jwan Roberts made plays in transition and ended up scoring 25 to open his season. Du’Wain Thomas added 11 as the Greywolves moved to 1-0 on the year. Pflugerville fought back from an 8-point deficit in the 4th quarter to be within a stop and score of taking the lead, but came up just short.

Hendrickson bounced back after a slow first quarter to run away with a 21-point win over New Braunfels. The Hawks held a 3-point advantage after the first period, but jumped out to lead by 14 after a strong 2nd. Strong play from Isaac Bullard and Dylan Disu helped build a comfortable lead going into the second half, as the two combined for 35 in the contest. New Braunfels’ Haddon Rice put up 18 for the Unicorns but as a whole they just didn’t have enough on offense to keep pace with Hendrickson as they fell to 0-1 on the year.

Will Baker came out firing on Saturday, dropping 5 treys in the first quarter en route to leading all scorers with 36 for the game. This one was all Westlake from the start. Keonte Kennedy started the game with a made 3 and never looked back, scoring 21 on the day from all over the court. Texas-signee Brock Cunningham shut down any kind of offensive flow for McNeil with his signature brand of stifling defense and Baylor bound Matthew Mayer ran the show in transition and was dialed in from deep. The pair of Big 12-commits A 24-7 opening frame set the tone for the game for the Chaps and McNeil was unable to recover. James Curtis was the lone bright spot for the Mavs as he put up 16 while showing off his range in the process.

Copperas Cove had to come back from down 5 in the 4th quarter to beat Cedar Ridge in what was the closest game of the day. Back to back threes from Ryan Elvin put Cedar Ridge in the lead late, but Cove’s go-to performer Neyland Block came up with the goods to pull out a tight victory. Tyrese Taylor put in work around the bucket and led all scorers with a 23-point performance while Block chipped in with 16. Javuon Pitts and Tayvion Williams paced the Raiders with 16 and 12 respectively in the loss.

Round Rock ground down Akins with strong play in transition and on the defensive end to come away with a 20-point win to start their season. After a back and forth first quarter, Round Rock seized the initiative and drove their lead up to 12 at half time and never looked back. The Dragons got big games from Carter Ford with 21 and Jordan Lippman with 19. Getting to the free throw line was a point of emphasis for Round Rock as a third (25) of their points came from the charity stripe. Alfred Ortiz and Isaiah Landers fired back for Akins with games of 22 and 12 respectively, but just couldn’t cut into the Round Rock lead in the second half.

Stony Point took a 1-point lead into the locker room at halftime, but endured a tougher go of things in the second half as Cedar Park fought back to claim a 16-point win going away. Stony Point had chances to take this one down to the wire, but it was a 22-10 burst in the 4th quarter that put the game on ice for Cedar Park. Every time Stony Point looked poised to start a comeback, Cedar Park snuffed out any momentum with several big charges and added to their lead on the other end with solid offensive execution.

After a weekend of impressive individual performances, Vandegrift's Greg Brown might have topped them all with a 38-point outburst in the final game of the night as he led the Vipers to a tight win over Rouse. Brown did a little bit of everything to get his points and got to the foul line early and often. While Rouse may not have had anyone to match Brown's star power, they used a balanced team effort to stay in the game until late, and actually took the lead in the 4th quarter. Quilan Daly hit 5 threes for 15 points to go with an additional 15 points from Carter McMahon as Rouse fell to Vandegrift in a valiant effort.