Two rivalry wins in as many nights for Lewisville

Lewisville boys’ basketball savored two wins in as many nights against its rivals, Great Falls. The Lions snatched the second victory Friday night in a 62-47 blowout.

Great Falls, long a 1A basketball powerhouse, has bullied Lewisville for many years. But the Lions were the best team both times this week, beginning with Thursday’s game, delayed from a few weeks earlier by weather.

Michael McCray’s team won that contest on the road, 55-50. Confidence carried over into Friday’s game, played in a packed gym. The Lions made their move in the second quarter, weathering a pre-halftime run by the Red Devils before pulling away in the second half.

Great Falls’ 47-year coaching legend John Smith couldn’t remember the two schools ever playing on back-to-back nights, and neither could his younger counterpart.

“I’ve never experienced it either, but it feels good because we won both nights,” said McCray, beaming.

Turning point

A 17-2 Lewisville run stiff-armed the visitors in the second quarter. Trey Keels was integral, either assisting or scoring during the run. Great Falls cut the Lions’ lead to 15-12 before McCray’s team took off. Quentin Sanders turned a steal into two points before Keels was left alone at the top of the key to knock in a 3 to make it 22-14.

Keels then dished to Mike Hill for another 3, before Marcus McCullough went end-to-end for a deuce that forced Smith into a Great Falls timeout with the Lions up 27-14. Keels’ bucket in the paint several plays later gave the Lions their biggest first half lead, 32-15.

“After we did that I saw some of their guys out there with their hands on their knees,” said McCray. He told his team, “let’s keep pushing, let’s not fall back. And that’s what the guys did.”

Critical

Hill and senior guard McCullough had their way with the Great Fall defense, penetrating at will to set up teammates or score themselves.

“Whole game defensively, we could not contain them off the dribble or off the boards,” said Smith. “That was our difficulty. And being a jump-shooting team, you live and die by the jump shot and we died by it tonight.”

Star contributions

Keels and Hill were lead dogs for Lewisville in statistical production and passion and effort. Keels threw his body around carelessly, drawing the visiting fans’ ire for a rugged flagrant foul, but showing his softer side with silky free throw and long distance shooting. Keels scored all 15 of his points in the first half, but was a rebounding factor throughout the contest.

And Hill was almost unstoppable going to the basket. Stopping him became even harder when he hit a couple of shots from distance, forcing Great Falls defenders to step up closer to him.

“Mike is one of those guys I like to call high risk, high reward,” said McCray. “When he’s good, he’s great, and when he’s bad, you’ve just got to take it.”

He wasn’t bad Friday night. Hill finished with a game-high 25 points.

“We hold each other accountable and coach wanted me to step up so I had to do it for the team,” he said afterward.

Dee Perry led Great Falls with 12 points, while Dee Green added 11.

On deck

Lewisville finishes up its regular season with road games at Lamar and McBee; two wins would clinch at least a share of the Region 3-A title. If C.A. Johnson also wins both of its games next week, it would meet Lewisville in a one-game playoff to determine the top seed for the state playoffs.

Great Falls has one last contest, a home game against McBee on Feb. 9.

Box score

Lewisville 62, Great Falls 47

Great Falls: Dee Green 11, Dee Perry 12, Raheem Bowers 2, Warren Sanders 9, T. McCrorey 7, Shadarius Brown 6. Lewisville: Marcus McCullough 12, Trey Keels 15, Mike Hill 25, D’metrius Edwards 6, Quentin Sanders 2, Josh Belk 2.

Team fouls: Great Falls 14; Lewisville 18

Foul-shooting: Great Falls 18-30; Lewisville 14-16

3-pointers: Great Falls 3 (Sanders 2, Perry 1); Lewisville 4 (Hill 3, Keels 1)

Records: Great Falls 12-8, 3-6 Region 3-A; Lewisville 14-7, 6-2

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 9:55 PM with the headline "Two rivalry wins in as many nights for Lewisville."