Dillon Battie boosts Lancaster late in defensive win over Amarillo High in 5A semifinal
SAN ANTONIO — Lancaster found enough offense to emerge with a 44-31 win over Amarillo High in a Class 5A boys basketball state semifinal Thursday at the Alamodome.
Engaged in a defensive slugfest for the better part of three quarters, Tigers forward Dillon Battie caught fire late to push the team into a state title game Saturday against Killeen Ellison.
Braden Hausen scored a game-high 14 points for the Golden Sandstorm, which finished the season 34-5.
Scoring at a premium
Through a combination of defense, off-shooting and stalling, the teams went into halftime with a combined 21 points.
The Tigers frustrated Amarillo early, using their size to hold Amarillo to two first-quarter points. Lancaster's 6-foot-8 Battie had a block as the Sandies shot 1-for-8 from the field. Amarillo missed 10 consecutive shots until Hausen's bucket brought the team within 11-4 in the second quarter.
That opened an offensive onslaught for the Sandies, who hit three consecutive shots. That included the final points of the half to make the deficit 13-8. Neither team scored over the final 3 minutes, 31 seconds, with Lancaster holding the ball for 2:40 on its last possession.
Amarillo coach Jason Pillion said he was overall pleased with his team's execution.
"We shot the ball so well all season long," Pillion said. "You get in something like (the Alamodome) and you're shooting in a cavern. Stuff happens. I couldn't be prouder of how our kids played. … They played great offensively, other than we didn't make shots. Sometimes that happens in the game of basketball.
"But the things that we had complete control over, we were very impressive. We couldn't make a shot."
Dillon Battie comes alive in fourth quarter
It didn't take much to look like an offensive explosion Thursday, and Battie made it happen late.
The Temple signee scored nine points in the fourth quarter on 3-for-3 shooting. He also made all three attempts from the charity stripe, including a three-point play that put Lancaster up 24-18 early in the frame.
"He's been big all year like that," Lancaster coach Ferrin Douglas said. "He pulled us through. He made some tough plays in traffic. Not stuff I drew up, but he did a great job. I'm proud of him tonight."
Battie and Deontrell Barrett each finished with a team-high 13 points.
Amarillo High can't take advantage of rebounding edge
The Sandies controlled the glass, especially on offense. Amarillo took advantage of long rebounds to come down with 10 offensive boards. But that didn't translate to many points.
The Sandies finished with two second-chance points. Lancaster matched that total on only three offensive rebounds. Overall, Amarillo won the rebounding battle 26-15.
Amarillo shot 12-for-34 (35.3%) from the field, including 1-for-18 from 3-point range. The Sandies missed their first 15 tries.
"If you said we weren't gonna hit any 3s and we weren't even gonna get double digits in the first half and we're only down five, I think we would take that," Pillion said. "We did everything you needed to do to win a basketball game, we just couldn't make shots."
CLASS 5A STATE SEMIFINAL
Lancaster 44, Amarillo High 31
Lancaster 6 7 8 23 — 44
Amarillo 2 6 8 15 — 31
Lancaster (29-5): Dillon Battie 13, Amari Reed 3, Des'Meon Jones 10, Deontrell Barrett 13, Mario Perry 5.
Amarillo High (34-5): T.J. Brown 2, Will Williams 2, Braden Hausen 14, Zach Brown 9, Rylan Leathers 2, Creed Barnes 2.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Dillon Battie, Lancaster boys basketball finish strong to top Amarillo
