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Something had to give: McKinney inches past Boyd in razor-thin affair
By Richard C. White, rwhite@starlocalnews.com
There was hardly any room for error. Both teams needed this one.
In the end, though, it was McKinney who edged past McKinney Boyd, 63-60, Friday night in front of a spirited, packed crowd in yet another chapter of the cross-town rivalry.
"I'm ecstatic," said Wes Watson, McKinney head coach. "This was a gutty, gutty win against a really good team. I'm kind of at a loss for words. This was absolutely like a playoff atmosphere."
"I'd be lying if I sat here and acted like this wasn't a must-win game," Watson said. "We knew going into it you had two really good teams that were in a spot they didn't want to be in and they were going to be very desperate tonight and leave everything out on the floor and that's exactly what happened."
McKinney (15-7) improves to 1-2 in district, while Boyd (13-5) 0-2 suddenly finds itself at 0-3.
"It was a great game, too bad somebody had to lose it," said Dean Christian, Boyd head coach. "I thought we played hard enough to win, we just didn't play smart enough down the stretch to win. We haven't been able to find that magic here in district. All three of our losses have been winnable games where we were winning with under five minutes to go. We just haven't been able to finish."
Senior Jonathan Shannon led the way for the Lions with a game-high 20 points.
"He's unbelievable," Watson said. "I've said it for a long time: we're going to miss him the day he walks out of here. He's been playing hurt all season, he's been gutting it out and I couldn't be more proud of him tonight. He delivered for us."
Junior Remington Edwards and senior Connor Fuentes also contributed key minutes for McKinney, scoring 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Boyd also had three players in double-digits, as seniors Michael Grant scored 13, Martez Butler scored 12 and Mikel Parish scored 11.
"Michael is a great athlete," Christian said. "You can't dispute that. He's always out there giving it his all. Mikel is our leader. As our point guard he's our decision-maker and he's always done a great job of that. And Martez played an excellent game. He came through and got some big rebounds and big buckets."
Boyd jumped out to an 8-1 lead, with four different players contributing to the total. The Lions would storm back, scoring eight of the game's next nine for the 9-9 tie. This included a layup from Edwards that forced Boyd to call a timeout in an attempt to stifle McKinney's newfound momentum.
The Lions would continue their momentum immediately following the timeout, scoring five more unanswered points as McKinney had suddenly scored 13 of the game's last 14 for the 14-9 lead.
"We had a good run there," Watson said. "We got into the kind of style that we like to play."
A Butler layup in the final seconds were Boyd's first points in half a quarter as McKinney led 14-11 at the end of the first.
Boyd would erase a 20-14 deficit, tying it up at 20-20 before gaining the lead at 24-20 on a Parish jumper and a Grant layup, all in the span of 10 seconds late in the second quarter. Boyd later took a 29-26 advantage into the half.
Neither team could get an edge in the third, with multiple lead changes and near-constant momentum shifts, with neither team leading by more than four at a time. The Broncos led 47-43 as the fourth quarter began.
The Broncos later saw an eight-point lead get erased, with six of those points coming in less than a minute as the Lions roared back to life, scoring several fast-break layups, tying it up at 56-56 with three minutes remaining.
As was the story all game, the momentum quickly swung the other way, as the Broncos sank two quick baskets, thanks to Parish and junior Taber McFadden for the 60-56 lead.
Later, with the score tied at 60-60, Fuentes hit a fast-break layup to give McKinney the lead, 62-60 with 13 seconds remaining in the game.
"Connor's been so steady for us," Watson said. "We know what we're going to get from him every night out."
After Boyd missed a free throw, Shannon was then fouled and made one of two free throws. Parish took the last shot of the game, a half-court three for the tie, which missed as time expired.
In a rush, the McKinney fans stormed the court and surrounded their team and coaches in a frantic celebration of their win.
"Our fans are outstanding," Watson said. "They're unbelievable, they stick with us. I'll tell you, it's a great thing to be a part of."
McKinney returns to action 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at home against Plano Senior. Boyd, meanwhile, will continue its search for a district win 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Plano West.
"There was a sense of urgency from the first district game," Christian said. "This is a 10-game sprint. You can't put more pressure on those kids then they're already putting on themselves. They're already feeling it. They want more for themselves. They feel that urgency. They know what's at stake."
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