Justus Cooper’s jumper at the buzzer missed the mark, and the Izard County Cougars came up short in their attempt to finish as back-to-back champions with a 48-47 loss to the Nevada Blue Jays.Izard County had won 98 consecutive games against Class 1A schools since suffering a loss to Guy-Perkins in the 2018 championship game.
Nevada got off to a quick start with a 15-11 lead after a quarter and a 26-20 lead at the half. Izard County put together a 19-11 run in the third quarter to go up 39-37. Jared Todd’s bucket put Nevada up 47-46 with 29 seconds left to play, and the Blue Jays hit two of five at the free-throw line in the final minute, as Izard County missed its final two shots from the field.
Cooper led all scorers with 16 points and also grabbed 14 rebounds. Dylan Tharp added 12 points for the Cougars, and Coby Everett tallied 10. The Cougars shot just 36% from the floor and only 29% from behind the arc.
Izard County finished with a 39-6 mark this season.
The Viola Lady Longhorns controlled the girls’ Class 1A title game throughout the first half, but the Kirby Lady Trojans went on a 28-17 run in the second half to claim a 49-42 victory.
Viola finishes its season with a record of 39-3.
The Lady Longhorns grabbed an 11-10 lead after a quarter and were up 25-21 at the half.
Braidlyn Fierce’s layup stretched the Viola lead to six points to start the second half, but Kirby rallied to within a point after a bucket and a 3-pointer. Kirby took its first lead of the second half at 28-27, on an A.J. McCandlis jumper, but the Lady Trojans scored eight straight points to build a 36-29 lead.
Down 39-31, Viola’s Sami McCandlis hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute to make it a 39-37 game heading into the fourth quarter.
Viola would regain the lead at 40-39 with Keyaira Moore’s 3-pointer with 7:03 remaining, but would go scoreless for the next 6:29 as Kirby scored eight straight points to take control of the contest.
A.J. McCandlis led Viola with 16 points, Fierce tallied nine and Sami McCandlis finished with six.
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