With Abilene Christian defenders doing their best to deny Central Texas Christian’s high-scoring Brent Reynolds the ball, Crews knew it was up to him to pick up the slack.
“From the last couple of games, he (Reynolds) was playing outstanding so I knew they would key on him,” said Crews, a 6-2 senior guard. “I knew I had to step up.”
Crews certainly did, scoring 23 of his game-high 30 points in the first half as the eighth-ranked Lions routed the No. 19 Panthers 66-42 on Tuesday night in a TAPPS Class 2A area-round playoff game.
CTCS (24-3) - undefeated against private schools this season - advanced to the 2A regional round for the first time in school history and will play Rockwall Christian - which beat San Antonio Trinity 68-57 - at 9 a.m. Saturday at San Antonio’s Durbon Center.
“It feels good,” said Lions coach Nuni Venegas, whose team made 15 of 30 shots in the first half for its 14th straight victory.
Reynolds, who led CTCS in scoring during district play and had 24 points and 16 rebounds in the Lions’ 62-46 bi-district home win over Bulverde Bracken Christian last Friday, finished with just six points against Abilene Christian but registered 19 rebounds and six blocked shots.
Guards Scott Rizvi and Nash Ingram led the charge in forcing 23 Panther turnovers while maintaining a fast-paced tempo, and they added 11 and five points, respectively. Jordan Togami had seven points and Jonathan Sulak added eight rebounds.
“Once they stop Brent, we’ve got Clay. If they stop Clay, we’ve got Nash,” said Venegas, whose team held Abilene Christian to 19-of-59 shooting. “It’s good to have the inside-outside game.”
The Lions jumped on the Panthers early.
Crews drained a 3-point shot on the first possession and had a layin off a Reynolds steal. Rizvi had a steal and a layin and scored off a steal from Ingram for a 9-0 lead just 1 minute, 30 seconds into the game. Crews eventually added a driving layup and a 3 as CTCS led 17-6 by the end of the first quarter.
A Rizvi putback and his steal and layin coupled with a Crews bucket and an Ingram steal and layup eventually pushed the lead to 25-10.
With the Lions up 26-13, Crews went off, hitting five straight shots while scoring CTCS’ next 13 points.
He buried a 3, scored inside off an Ingram feed and hit another 3 to give the Lions a 34-13 lead. Before intermission, he added his fifth 3 for a 37-16 halftime lead.
“I got on a roll a little bit,” said Crews, who shot 9-for-14 in the first half and 12-for-25 for the game. “In the second quarter, I got hot and my team did a great job on defense. We just got out in transition.”
Said Venegas: “It was crazy. He was hot. I didn’t want to go to halftime. That’s the type of game he has. He steps up to that level.”
When the teams returned from the locker room, Crews scored inside and Reynolds had a steal and threw down a two-handed dunk for his first points to give the Lions a 41-18 lead with 5:37 left.
The game never got closer than 16 after that.
“We’ve got all angles,” Crews said. “If it’s not Brent, if it’s not me, it’s Nash, it’s Scott, it’s Jordan. We always have one guy stepping up.”
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
