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BASTROP — The Cedar Creek High School boys varsity basketball team picked up its first playoff victory in school history last week as the Eagles had 5A playoff game against Austin McCallum High School and fell to Killeen Shoemaker High School.
CEDAR CREEK EAGLES 47, MCCALLUM KNIGHTS 34
Behind a strong defensive team performance throughout the night, Cedar Creek used a huge fourth quarter to pull away to a 47-34 victory over McCallum to capture a bi-district championship at neutral site Pflugerville Weiss High School.
The Eagles had a 9-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, held a 19-18 advantage at halftime, went up 31-28 as the horn sounded following the third quarter and used a 16-6 run in the fourth quarter to pull out the win.
Cedar Creek standout senior Robert Conrad was his team’s leading scorer as he went off for a game-high 20 points, while junior Kenji Franklin did it all in a double-double effort with 15 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks in the historic win over the Knights.
SHOEMAKER GREY WOLVES 59, CEDAR CREEK EAGLES 56
In a hard-fought contest by both teams, Cedar Creek came up just short in a 59-56 loss to No. 22 ranked Shoemaker in the area round held at neutral site Taylor High School.
The Eagles took a 15-14 lead at the end of the first quarter, trailed 30-29 at halftime, remained right in it, down 46-45 in the third quarter, but were unable to take the lead in a back-and-forth final frame.
Cedar Creek got a big showing from its onetwo punch of Conrad and Franklin with 21 points each, while senior Leland Washington had a solid all-around game with four points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals in the heartbreaking loss to the Grey Wolves.
The Eagles, under Head Coach Valentino Maxwell, finished the 2023-24 season with a 25-11 overall record and represented a highly competitive 5A-District 23 as the No. 4 seed.
