The Texas high school basketball regular season is now over, and for the Humble Wildcats and Atascocita Eagles, it is now playoff time.
After a rough and tumble non-district slate which saw the Eagles lose eight games prior to 2017, Atascocita, led in large part by senior Fabian White and junior Kobe Wilson, has recovered nicely in District 21-6A.
They won the district with ease, posting a 13-1 district record, with most of those wins coming in blowout fashion. In fact, 10 of those 13 wins came by at least 20 points.
In their final district game, the Eagles rebounded from a surprising loss to Kingwood with huge games from White and Wilson, who combined for 47 points to beat Channelview 85-70.
In an interesting twist, the Eagles headed to Channelview for their first playoff matchup, scheduled for Monday, Feb. 20, against Deer Park.
The winner of that game moves on for a matchup with either Clear Lake or Alief Taylor.
Elsewhere, in District 21-5A, the Humble Wildcats rebounded nicely down the stretch from a loss to Porter with three straight wins, including two over then-playoff hopefuls Crosby and Kingwood Park.
They, too, won their district with ease, only losing one game on the way. In their first round matchup, they will take on the Nederland Bulldogs Tuesday night at Goose Creek Memorial High School. The winner of that game takes on either Houston Sterling or Fort Bend Marshall.
Meanwhile, also in 21-5A, the season for the Kingwood Park Panthers came to a heartbreaking end last Tuesday night in New Caney.
In a game where the Panthers needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, they saw an early double-digit lead evaporate, and saw New Caney’s Eli Akin make a late basket for a 59-57 Eagle win which eliminated the Panthers from playoff contention.
The Panthers finished 10-8 in league play, tied for fifth with Crosby.