Duncanville, the second-ranked team in the country, remains unbeaten with 57-51 win over DeSoto
DESOTO, Texas - In a matchup that was touted as the must-see Texas high school boys basketball game of the week, Tuesday night's DeSoto vs. Duncanville showdown did not disappoint.
Duncanville (12-0), the No. 2 team in the country in the SBLive/SI Power 25 Rankings, remained unbeaten with a down-to-the-wire 57-51 victory over DeSoto (11-5).
With under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Panthers held on to a narrow two-point lead, battling to keep their perfect record alive.
Duncanville head coach David Peavy had faith his team knew how to make winning plays down the stretch.
“We tell them no situations,” Peavy said. “Figure it out, we gotta get a win, make winning plays. We had some other guys step up and thankfully we got it done."
With 16 seconds left, junior guard Aric Demings knocked down two clutch free throws to seal the deal.
Demings led the way for the Panthers, tallying 15 points in the highly-touted matchup.
Senior Davion Sykes was also a contributor for the Panthers, finishing with 14 points and a multitude of crucial offensive rebounds down the stretch.
After the game, Demings spoke about the late shots from the charity stripe to secure the victory.
“Of course, I didn’t play as well as I thought I could have,” he said. “Coach Peavy and the coaching staff had the confidence in me to go in the game. When it’s time to win I feel like Duncanville knows how to go win so that’s what we did.”
He added that he was frustrated with the team’s performance, looking to turn things around in the coming weeks.
“This isn’t us, we didn’t play good at all,” Demings said. “This is not Duncanville basketball, so we're coming hard these couple practices and games.”
The Panthers will play in a neutral tournament next week which is still to be determined.
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