(San Antonio, Texas)-On Saturday night, Oak Cliff Faith Family Academy (36-4), making their fourth straight University Interscholastic League tournament appearance (19, 20, 21, 22) knocked off Wichita Falls Hirschi 76-50 as they captured their second state title in Class 4A at the Alamodome-San Antonio, Texas. Head coach Brandon Thomas hugged his players as time expired. ”This is a great team and I’m so proud of these players,” said Thomas. “Its our goal to be here and that’s why we work so hard to get here.”
The 2019 state champions, Oak Cliff Faith Family Academy Eagles, tipped off with featured starters Doryan Onwuchekwa (6’10 sophomore), JT Toppin (6’7), Isaiah Jones (6’3), Brandon Walker (6’6), and TJ Caldwell (6’6) and this line-up proved to be too much for the Huskies and head coach Donald Hedge in the first half as they trailed 13-3 after a three-pointer by Jones. Caldwell added a spinning layup, forcing the Huskies to call timeout, down 15-3. Sophomore Onwuchekwa scored his first bucket to make it 19-11 with 1:09 left in the first period. ”We love to compete at any level and this allows me as a coach to evaluate our team from every game. These guys are true champions,” says Hedge.
Undersized, the Huskies (29-7) kept fighting, driving to the basket, with 6’2 Jamarion Carroll scoring and fouled. Point guard Ernest Young led his team down court, but the Eagles just kept flying as they ended the first period ahead 22-11.
In the second period, the Eagles went to Jones, as he nailed three straight three-pointers to put the Eagles up 42-17 with 2:40 left in the half with Toppin adding another score to make it 44-19. Jones scored again, and Caldwell found himself open, alone, for a slam-dunk to put the with Eagles up 48-21. The half ended with a buzzer shot by Walker from downtown, 51-21.
In the second half, two blocks by the Eagles, a steal by Caldwell, turned into a flying dunk to make it 58-30 with 4:04 left in the third period. Caldwell added another slamming dunk off a missed shot to extend the Eagles lead to 60-35 with 2:34 in third quarter.
At the start of the fourth period, the Huskies trailed 71-41 with all Oak Cliff Faith Family starters on the bench. Caldwell ended the game with 20 points, Jones added 14 points to lead the Eagles to its second title. The Hurschi Huskies were led by Carroll with 12 points. Oak Cliff Faith Family Academy converted 13-of-26 three-pointers and shot 48% from the field. Caldwell was named the 4A Most Valuable Player of the tournament. (HSSMImages/Ruiz)
