The Silsbee Tigers left Texas intent on testing their mettle in the Allstate Sugar Bowl National Prep Classic basketball tournament.
A perennial Texas power under coach Joe Sigler, the Tigers have fared well to date after riding 25 points from guard Lamarcus Bottley and 20 more from guard-forward Jared Harris to a 60-50 victory against Carver Collegiate Academy on Friday night in a National Bracket quarterfinal at the Alario Center.
Silsbee (14-8) improved to 2-0 in the three-day tournament to advance to Saturday’s 11 a.m. semifinals against Peabody of Alexandria, a 72-40 winner against Crescent City in Friday’s opening quarterfinal.
The National Bracket championship game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
“We really want to see how good we really are,’’ Bottley said after sinking 10 field goals, including two 3-pointers. “In Texas there is competition. But we want to see where we stack up nationally. We want to put ourselves on the map.’’
Carver (10-7) tested the visitors from Texas throughout thanks to a monstrous game by 6-foot-9 Daijon Leathermann. The Rams junior center recorded team-high totals of 18 points, 15 rebounds and two blocked shots to go with three steals.
Guard Laurence Nathan contributed 16 points and forward Chesney Sadler 10 for Carver, the two-time reigning state champions who face Crescent City in a 12:30 p.m. Saturday consolation game.
The Rams were hurt by 20 turnovers and only getting to the free-throw line four times and making two. Meanwhile, the Tigers hit 10 of 17 free throws while committing 15 turnovers.
“Today, we beat a very good team,’’ said Sigler, who is in his 25th season as Silsbee coach and directed the Tigers to consecutive Division 4A state championships in 2017 and 2018. “They hit us in the mouth early, but we regrouped. I’ve got to give credit to my kids for fighting back. Being able to force them to shoot the ball from outside and not get it inside to their bigs was a key. They were not making very many jumpers, which I was glad they weren’t.’’
Silsbee will be short-handed Saturday as Bottley is headed to Dallas to participate in the nationally-televised Blue-Grey All-American Game scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday at AT&T Stadium. The Tigers already have been playing without guard Dre’lon Miller, a wide receiver in football and Colorado signee who is participating in the All-American Bowl in San Antonio scheduled for noon Saturday in the Alamodome.
Carver raced to a 13-2 lead midway through the first quarter before Silsbee regrouped to narrow the deficit to 15-11 by the end of the period. The Tigers carried the momentum into the second period with a 16-11 advantage that produced a 27-22 halftime lead.
The Rams did not lead thereafter, although they did get to within a point at 27-26 on a Nathan jumper in the first minute and a half of the third period. Silsbee with Bottley and Harris leading the charge extended its lead to 37-30 before taking a 38-34 lead into the final quarter that produced a 22-16 closing effort.
“I think the turnovers did play a part,’’ Carver coach Devin Andrew. “The things we didn’t do a good job of doing were on our transition defense. That’s pretty much where most of their points came from in that first quarter. They got easy buckets in transition. That tightened the game. They also did a good job of executing their zone defense. They made it really tough on us to score.’’
SILSBEE 60, CARVER 50
Carver 15 7 12 16 — 50
Silsbee 11 16 11 22 — 60
Carver: Laurence Nathan 16; Daijon Leatherman 18; Chesney Sadler 10; Wayne Nevels 4; Rayhienz Henry 2.
Silsbee: Jared Harris 20; Lamarcus Bottley 25; Payton Jones 5; Troy Rice 9; Billy Boulwen 1.
3-point field goals: Carver: Laurence Nathan 2. Silsbee: Jared Harris 2; Lamarcus Bottley 2.
Team records: Carver, 10-7; Silsbee, 14-8.