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Tyler High and Hallsville began the 2025 portion of their District 10-5A basketball schedule on Friday at the Lions Den in Tyler.

In the opener of the matinee, the Lady Lions, powered by the Kalyse Buffin’s career-high 40 points rolled to an 82-36 victory over the Lady Bobcats.

The second game was a bit more tense and came down to the final seconds as the Lions rallied to score a 44-43 nailbiter against Hallsville.

The schools are slated to return to the hardwood on Tuesday as Tyler plays host to Texas High in a doubleheader (6:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.). The Bobcats are scheduled to play a non-district game at Center on Tuesday, while the Lady Bobcats have a bye and will return to play on Jan. 10 against Texas High in Texarkana.

LADY LIONS 82, LADY BOBCATS 36

With the Lady Lions holding a big lead, Tyler Coach Bobby Reynolds took his starters out of the game. After realizing Buffin was three points shy of her career high of 38 points, he elected to put the senior back into the game.

“Kalyse has done so much for the Tyler High program we wanted to get her a chance to set her career record,” said Reynolds, whose club goes to 22-5 on the season and 8-0 in district.

After coming back into the game, Buffin hit a short jumper and then with 43 seconds on the clock, she drained a long 3-pointer for her 40th point.

Buffin, who earlier this season surpassed 2,000 career points, hit on 9 of 21 3-point attempts. She also had 12 rebounds, three steals and a block.

After a slow start and Reynolds using three timeouts in the first quarter, the Lady Lions got going. Tyler led 18-15 after the first quarter, but turned it on in the second period, outscoring the Lady Bobcats, 25-7, for a 43-22 halftime lead.

Bralyah Miller, the Lady Lions’ standout junior, added 18 points, along with seven rebounds, nine steals and a block. On Dec. 20, Miller hit her career high of 27 points in a 62-20 win over Nacogdoches.

Others scoring for Tyler were Jer’Miya Rice (8), LaTajia Hambrick (5), Ariel Johnson (5), Jaz Moore (2), Bra’Shia Miller (2) and Ma’Kayla Taylor (2). Bralyah Miller and Johnson added 3-pointers.

Taylor and Rice each had seven boards with four from Bra’Shia Miller. Hambrick had six steals with five from Rice.

Abby Tarkington led Hallsville (1-15, 1-6) with 13 points and eight rebounds. Others scoring for Hallsville were Miracle Wrighten (6), Kendria Sanders (6), Kennedy Thompson (5), Livi Vineyard (4) and Raelli Boyd (2).

Madi Farrell and Sanders each had seven rebounds with Hope Miles adding four boards.

LIONS 44, BOBCATS 43

In a game that felt like a playoff, the game came down to the closing seconds.

Jaishua Brown, who hit a nearly three-fourths court length 3-pointer at the end of the first half, connected on a teardrop basket with a minute showing in the fourth quarter for a Lions’ lead of 44-41.

While there would be just two more points scored there was plenty of action.

After Geordon Mitchell stole the ball, the Lions gave it right back as Lavarion Williams swiped the ball near midcourt and had a layup to bring the Bobcats within 44-43.

Williams came up with another steal with 29.4 seconds showing, but the Lions’ Jasyn Grayson took a charge from Grayson Magestro with 13.9 seconds showing.

Tempers then flared with Hallsville’s Kobe Gaut being assessed a technical as the teams converged. Tyler’s Mitchell then was given a technical.

When order was restored, the officials said the technicals offset and Tyler had the ball. Hallsville, which had only two fouls at that point, had to foul quickly. Eventually the Lions reached the free throw line but missed both attempts as the Bobcats’ Kyeson Lewis rebounded the ball with 7.4 seconds showing.

This time it was the Lions’ turn to foul. They had two fouls to give and Tyler Coach Justin Johnson instructed his team to foul. The Lions reached four fouls with 2.4 seconds showing.

Hallsville worked the ball down court and Lewis put up a shot that hit the rim, but the officials ruled he did not get the shot off in time anyway.

“We have not been finishing,” Johnson said. “It was nice to see us finish the game. The last two minutes were crucial. We did a good job there. Our kids came out here and played hard all four quarters.”

The Lions trailed 15-5 after the first quarter, but Brown scored 13 points in the second period to get Tyler back in the game, trailing at halftime 25-24. Plus, his long shot at the buzzer gave the Lions momentum.

Tyler led 38-37 heading into the final period. The Lions took the lead for good, 42-41, when Brown hit a cutting Mitchell for the bucket at 2:29.

Along with his 20 points, Brown had seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Others scoring for Tyler were Mitchell (9), Keiland Garvey (5), Tayvean McMiller (4), Grayson (4) and Damien Yarbrough (2).

Grayson, who was tasked with guarding 6-9 sophomore David Baliraine, had eight boards. Garvey, Mitchell and McMiller each had four rebounds with Garvey and Cameron Singleton getting three steals each. Mitchell had three blocks.

Brown had two 3-pointers with one each from Mitchell and Garvey.

Grayson Magestro led the Bobcats with 14 points, including two 3-pointers.

Others scoring for Hallsville, which was fresh off winning the M.T. Rice Tournament in Waco, were Williams (8), Baliraine (8), Camron Bean (6), Gaut (5) and Lewis. Bean had two treys in the first quarter with Gaut adding one in the third quarter.

Lewis led Hallsville with five rebounds.

Tyler won its third straight game to go to 14-7 overall and 4-2 in district. The Bobcats fell to 17-7 and 4-3, seeing their six-game winning streak snapped.

LIONS TALES: Former Tyler High standouts Derrick McFall, who now plays football at SMU, and Marquette Martin, who plays football at Texas Wesleyan, were on hand for the contests. Both McFall and Martin played both football and basketball for the Lions. McFall said his first year of college ball was exciting especially with the Mustangs playing for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and earning a berth in the College Football Playoff. … Texas Wesleyan won the Sooner Athletic Conference. Martin redshirted this season and said he is enjoying college life in Fort Worth. …