Marble Falls boys basketball sweeps Burnet, clinches at least a share of the district championship

CAPTION: The Marble Falls Mustangs, the Marble Falls High School students and fans celebrate sweeping Burnet and earning a playoff berth and a share of the District 24-4A championship. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School boys basketball team defeated Burnet 51-31 Feb. 10 to clinch at least a share of the District 24-4A crown and a playoff berth, the program’s first appearance in more than a decade.

“It’s been a long four years,” said Mustangs head coach Travis Crain, who has been at the helm for that period. “This community has waited 12 years. This is for our community, for our program and all the kids who put that jersey on. This is for anybody who was part of our program in the 12 years we didn’t get in. They are as much apart of this. And it’s for our town.”

Marble Falls (6-3), which won its first district championship since the 2004-05 season, didn’t need any late heroics this time. The Mustangs played like a squad whose season was on the line. And in one way, it was.

Had Jarrell beaten Lampasas and Marble Falls lost to Burnet, the Mustangs were faced with having to win in Jarrell Tuesday, Feb. 14, for a postseason spot. Instead it’s the Bulldogs (5-4) who must travel to Lampasas that night and find a way to defeat a Badgers team that has won its last four contests, including a 63-54 victory against the Mustangs.

“If Lampasas wins, we’ll share district with them,” Crain said. “If Jarrell beats us, we’ll share district with them. We at least get a piece of it. This (Burnet win) was our opportunity to solidify things.”

And it was solidified early.

Marble Falls overcame a two-possession deficit early in the first quarter and never looked back. By the end of the period, the Mustangs led 12-6. That quickly went to 19-11 midway through the second quarter. Junior guard Jamie Castillo found junior guard Davis Dreisbach for a lay-up that began a 9-2 run highlighted by back-to-back buckets by sophomore point guard Tidus Willie. Sophomore Garen Jones scored the last bucket of the run thanks to completing a fastbreak.

Burnet senior post Braden Ellett-Clark scored from the low block to bring the Bulldogs to a 28-15 deficit at the half.

The Mustangs kept the intensity high in the third stanza, choosing to execute fastbreaks when they were there or slowing down to operate their half-court offense where they spread around the 3-point line and looked for paths to the basket by driving to the hoop.

The end result were two masterpiece quarters where the Mustangs scored 30 of their 51 points in the second and third periods that led to a 42-21 advantage.

Willie led the Mustangs with 24 points where he dropped in 10 in the second stanza. Jones added 15 with 11 in the second half.

Burnet junior guard Baylor Dawes scored 12 points to lead the Bulldogs.

“You have two teams that are right up close to each other,” Crain said. “There wasn’t any other way this was going to play out. I loved our crowd. I’m thankful for our fans. And the Burnet crowd, too. They travel well. This was a playoff game that helped us both.”

One big factor was the Mustangs’ rebounding on both ends. Only once did the Bulldogs get multiple shot attempts on one possession. Meanwhile, the Mustangs’ offensive rebounding was huge and led to about four tip-ins.

“If we’re going to play small ball, we have to be able to rebound,” the coach said. “We have five core values. One is relentlessness. When you see those types of plays, that’s being relentless. They bought into those core values.”

Going into the contest, Crain told his players to not get caught up in the moment.

“This is not the time to play tight,” he said. “There’s nothing out there you haven’t seen before. Don’t fear anything, don’t fear the moment. I thought that helped control our mindset and stay aggressive.”

Tuesday, Feb. 14, Burnet goes to Lampasas for the 6:30 p.m. contest, Marble Falls will travel to Jarrell to play at 7 p.m.

“Tuesday is an opportunity,” Crain said.

But that’s as far as he would go, preferring to look no further for now. Instead, he wanted to talk about his players and assistant coaches as the yells of happiness and joy from the Mustangs and their fans filled Max Copeland Gym.

“The crowd was fantastic. It was great to see The Max full,” he said. “I hope they truly enjoy it. That’s a great group of kids in that locker room. I have an amazing staff, and we identified some things and work tirelessly to make sure we’re in great position.”

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