The first win in more than a decade for Jesuit Dallas over neighborhood rival Highland Park came in dramatic fashion on Tuesday.
The Rangers rallied from a double-digit deficit in the second half, then held on for a 64-62 victory at Walsh Gym when a potential go-ahead layup by the Scots was swatted away in the closing seconds.
It snapped a seven-game skid for Jesuit over HP overall, and gave the Rangers their first home win in the series since 1999.
“We played really well,” said Jesuit head coach Chris Hill. “We’ve been talking about trying to play 32 minutes and we haven’t been doing great at it, but that was really good.”
The pivotal stretch was a 13-2 run early in the third quarter that resulted in a one-point Jesuit lead following a William Alexander 3-pointer from the top of the key.
The advantaged seesawed before the Rangers (5-3) took the lead for good on an Andrew Eakes trey to open the final quarter. The Scots (3-3) subsequently narrowed the gap to one point on multiple occasions, including on a layup by freshman Chris Martinez with 17 seconds left that made the score 63-62.
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Martinez then recorded a steal, but his layup attempt was blocked from behind by Fern, with officials ruling some apparent body contact was legal.
Earlier, HP controlled much of the first half, when the Scots made five of seven 3-pointers and held a decisive edge on the boards with their height advantage. A putback layup by Conrad Noble at the first-half buzzer put HP up 34-26.
“I liked the shots we got in the first half. We just missed them,” Hill said. “I told them to stay confident and keep playing the right way and getting open looks. They did a good job of staying with it.”
The shooting fortunes reversed after halftime for Jesuit, which made six of 10 attempts from deep in the last two quarters. The Rangers scored 27 points in the third.
“The start of the third quarter was not good for us. We got too impatient on offense,” said HP head coach David Piehler. “We fell in love with the three. We shot too many, we missed, they made theirs, and all of a sudden it was tied.”
Pierce Popelka scored a game-high 17 points for Jesuit, including an alley-oop dunk in the first half. Fern added 14 points while also leading the Rangers in rebounding and assists.
Martinez and Cade Kaplan tallied 14 points apiece to pace HP. Canon Wyatt contributed 11 points, all before halftime. Noble grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
The Scots are in the midst of an extremely busy stretch of travel and games prior to the start of District 12-5A play later this month. They will compete in the three-day Athens Invitational tournament beginning Thursday with a first-round game against Whitehouse.
Next week, HP will make its annual trek to the Union Square Bulldog Classic in Burkburnett, but not before a challenging home test against Grand Prairie on Dec. 7.
“We’ve got three guys with varsity experience. Some of these guys are new,” Piehler said. “This was like a playoff atmosphere. It’s good for these guys to get in this environment. We live and learn.”
Meanwhile, the Rangers will host the annual Bob Stras Dallas Classic tournament beginning Thursday. The Rangers will meet Lake Worth in the quarterfinals of the three-day, eight-team event. Other teams include St. Mark’s, Hillcrest, Grand Prairie, Amarillo Tascosa, Santa Fe, and Sachse.
