The UIL Playoffs have officially begun and there has been some really good first round matchups around the state of Texas. One of those aforementioned first round matchups took place tonight at Irving High School and featured two well coached 6A teams, the South Grand Prairie Warriors vs. the JJ Pearce Mustangs.
The Game Recap
From the tip off the game was physical and both teams were locked in and executing on both ends of the floor. South Grand Prairie got out to a fast start and their backcourt trio of Jordan Roberts, Khaden Bennett and Jaden Flournoy were getting to the rim, finishing in transition and hitting open shots. After an electric start the JJ Pearce Mustangs countered the Warriors with a run of their own which featured give and go cuts and open threes from Sophomore Stud PG Dean Balo and Senior PG Khalil Mahtani. Their efforts along with the Mustangs Freshman phenom Liam Mcneeley kept them in the game versus the Undefeated Warriors but at the end the South Grand Prairie Warriors made a little more plays offensively and defensively to gut out the close win.
The Player Recap
2021 Jordan Roberts SG South Grand Prairie
Roberts had it going from all levels of the floor offensively and what impressed me the most was how active he was on the defensive end. He is such an effortless score and when he is in a groove he’s very hard to stop.
2022 Khaden Bennett SG South Grand Prairie
Bennett surprised me today with the improvement of his jump shot. He is known for attacking the rim and finishing in transition but his jumper looked really smooth coming out of his hands and he made JJ Pearce pay multiple times when they left him alone behind the arc.
2021 Jaden Flournoy SF South Grand Prairie
The long lean wing passes the eye test at 6ft.5 with his ability to explode vertically and move laterally . Flournoy grabbed multiple boards and finished on the break as well as above the rim with a nice two hand dunk.
2021 Terin Johnson PF South Grand Prairie
The 6ft.7 big man in the middle Johnson did a great job of battling on the inside and making it hard for talented Senior Walker Timme to score on the block. He also showed ability to score with his back to the basket off of jump hooks and he grabbed some tough rebounds in traffic. He currently has 0 offers but at his size and solid post game I definitely think that will change soon.
2021 Khalil Mahtani PG JJ Pearce
The crafty guard was making plays left and right for the Mustangs and his shot was money especially from deep. The Unsigned Senior guard exhibited feel, skill and toughness tonight.
2023 Dean Balo PG JJ Pearce
I have been calling the talented Sophomore Balo a two guard because of his ability to shoot the rock, but Balo is proving to me that he might be just as valuable as a point guard because of his poise and craftiness with the rock plus his savvy court vision which his displayed, on top of making shots from all over the floor.
2024 Liam Mcneeley SF JJ Pearce
This kid has all of the tools to be special and the scary thing about this young man is he lets the game come to him but every time he touches the ball it seems like something good happens. Mcneeley versatility, talent and size was hard for the opposing team to contain.
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