By Carter Vesta
Special to VYPE Media
The Class 4A State Semifinals between the Silsbee Tigers and Oak Cliff Faith Family Academy Eagles packed in quite the crowd on Friday afternoon. Whatever the Tigers' squad lacked in size, they made up for in fight.
As for the Oak Cliff side, they had a number of advantages that they utilized from the jump en route to a 70-62 victory.
Oak Cliff FFA, the No. 1-ranked Class 4A team in the State of Texas, came out fast and confident jumping out to a 20-9 lead after one quarter of play. Their length and athleticism were overwhelming for this young Silsbee team. The Eagles led the first half in blocks (5), along with a number of deflections that resulted in points at the other end.
Although the first half seemed to be dominated by Oak Cliff's size and speed, Silsbee was able to string together multiple runs to get within five points or less. Those runs were fueled by a high-intensity defense that forced five turnovers in the second quarter alone. A perfect 3 for 3 from the field by sophomore standout, Dre'lon Miller helped Silsbee outscore Oak Cliff FFA 22-19 in the second quarter.
The second half was much of the same story.
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Oak Cliff dominated the paint and free throw line, followed by Silsbee turning good defense into easy offense, just for the Eagles to diffuse the run before it became too threatening.
Silsbee finished the game going 3 for 25 from beyond the arc, whereas Oak Cliff went 4 for 10. Miller had a tremendous performance, finishing with 28 points.
The Tigers have a lot to look forward to in this young man and other sub-senior pieces like Jared Harris (14 points) and Jerrick Harper (8 points). For the Eagles, scoring was evenly distributed among the veteran squad led by senior guard, TJ Caldwell (18 points), junior forward, JT Toppin (15 points), and senior forward, Brandon Walker (13 points).
Oak Cliff Faith Family Academy will face Wichita Falls Hirschi in the 4A State Championship on Saturday, March 12 at 7:00PM inside the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
