SAN ANTONIO — Oak Cliff’s Faith Family Academy has now won their second straight state championship. They used a strong final three quarters to win 70-56, securing back-to-back 4A titles for the Eagles men’s basketball team.
Saturday’s win at the Alamodome is the third state title win for the Eagles in five seasons.
A slow start for the Eagles, Booker T. came out on a 5-0 tear before FFA tied it up at five. Then, BTW went on another run, this time a 15-10 run as the Houston school went up on FFA 20-15 heading into the second.
Booker T. Washington had a tough second quarter though, only sinking three field goals in the quarter. Their first came from Chris McDermott with 5:36 left in the half, with a two point edge at that point 22-20. Unfortunately for Coach Vincent Grayson’s squad, they then went scoreless for almost half an entire quarter, next sinking a bucket with just under two minutes to go.
The Houston school made another with just over 30 seconds to go, but a mere six seconds later FFA took the lead heading into the half, 27-26. A big factor in the Oak Cliff school’s edge over BTW came in the form of shooting. Houston’s Eagles shot a tough 27% from the field in the quarter, compared to FFA’s 45%.
The two schools traded blows in the third, with Booker T. holding a slight 32-29 advantage with 6:34 left in the quarter, but that was where their lead ended in the 4A state championship game.
FFA once again held BTW to a scoreless four minutes of action, as Oak Cliff’s Eagles lead by 10 at that point with 1:11 to go in the third.
Booker T. Washington pulled back within 10 in the closing minute of the quarter, but they would not get any closer for the rest of the duration of Saturday’s state final. Faith Family Academy, being a leg up already 52-39, used the bonus to their advantage. They shot 11 free throws, making six of their 20 points at the line.
That allowed the Oak Cliff Eagles to outpace BTW in the final quarter 20-17 en route to a 70-56 win in the state championship game.
Houston’s Eagles steadily kept the 4A final around 14 points, but could make no more damage against the now two-time reigning state champs.
Jadyn Toppin, Peyton Gusters and Dorian Onwuchekwa all had a huge impact on Saturday’s 4A state final victory.
Breaking down each player:
- Toppin — 20 points/7 reb
- Gusters — 19 points/10 reb/2 assts/blk/2 stls
- Onwuchekwa — 15 points/15 reb/2 blk/stl
Each of the three players had a +/- of at least 11.
Gusters got his 19 points on 73% shooting, and the three aforementioned FFA players almost out rebounded BTW as a team (35 for BTW, 33 for the three FFA players).
Saturday’s 70-56 win at the Alamodome gives FFA their second straight state championship. It’s also the third state title in five seasons for the Eagles.
On the other side, Booker T. Washington in only their first state tournament appearance advanced all the way to the final for 4A before bowing out to Faith Family Academy in a tighter game than the score presents.
“We knew it gonna be a tough game, [playing] the defending state champions,” Coach Vincent Grayson said post-game. “The’ve got everything they need. They’ve got size, they’ve got good guard play, good coaching staff. We knew it was gonna be a hard-fought game, and we fought hard for three and a half quarters.”
They wrap up their season as the state runner-up, going 29-8 record, going an almost perfect 15-1 in district play.
