The Dublin Lions secured a thrilling 81-71 victory over City View (16-10) in bi-district before narrowly losing the Area championship to Blanco (24-5 for the season) in San Saba.
The 16-16 Lions entered the bi-district battle Tuesday, Feb. 24 hungry as City View has knocked the Lions off the playoff ladder in previous years.
“I’m proud of our guys,” said head boys basketball coach Wes Grisham of the City View skirmish. “We beat a state ranked team that has battled through a tough district. Our guys executed the game plan tremendously and it all paid off when these guys locked in. We made a good run against this team last year but this year the gold ball is ours.”
Leading the Lions in the win were Alex Teten with 37 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks; Hunter Jones with 19 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 steals; and Joe Salinas with 13 points, 11 rebounds and an assist.
Also ticking up the points were Jayden DeLeon and Ivan Phelps who added 4 points each and Jorge Solis with 3.
The Lions rallied back to face Blanco Friday, Feb. 27 and the teams kept in step throughout the first half with Dublin only railing 33-27 at the half.
The Lions kept the intensity going into the third and took the lead before the teams started playing back and forth and tying up the score board several times leading into fourth period, when Blanco broke free and foul calls against Dublin drove up the lead. Blanco took the W 75-66 in the end.
“It was a physical game and we didn’t get a lot of calls that we hoped for,” said Grisham. “It wasn’t the outcome we wanted but I’m proud of our guys for an awesome season and putting Dublin back on the map.”
Grisham also credited the packed stands in the games for keeping up the energy and excitement. “We couldn’t have done this without them, the was a big win for Dublin as a community,” said Grisham.
Dublin finishes with an overall record of 17-17 over a talented district (2nd seed in 3A- Division 2) and a solid preseason schedule.