Chapel Hill Basketball

BRYAN — Chapel Hill’s season came to an end on Friday night with an 81-46 loss to No. 5 Houston Washington in the Class 4A Region III semifinals at Bryan High School.

“Our guys, they have a fighter’s mentality,” Chapel Hill head boys basketball coach Akimba Johnson said. “We had our worst game on the day we needed our best game. That happens sometimes. That’s the game of basketball. That’s why I love this game. It’s the only game where you can do everything right and still lose. I appreciate these guys.”

Washington’s speed forced Chapel Hill into some mistakes early, and the Eagles capitalized. Washington forced 30 Chapel Hill turnovers and finished with 81 points, which was below their season average of 86.9.

“They play fast,” Johnson said. “We hadn’t seen that type of speed all year. Of course, we were fast, too. But I think they got us to turn it over a little bit, and it got away from us a little bit. They do a great job.”

Christopher McDermott and Odis Carter Jr. both average more than 20 points per game on the season and eclipsed that total on Friday.

McDermott — a three-star recruit with offers from Georgetown, New Mexico State, North Texas, Ole Miss, SMU, Southern, Texas A&M, Texas State and Texas-Rio Grande Valley — finished with 23 points, 14 rebounds, five steals, three assists and two blocks. Carter went 9 of 25 from the field and finished with 21 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals.

Chapel Hill scored quickly out of the gate with a putback by Cameron Kelley to take an early 2-0 lead. Washington got a three from Abraham Kirksey and then a reverse layup by Kirksey to go in front. After a Kelley dunk, the Eagles went on a 14-0 run. With Washington up 26-9, Chapel Hill went on a 5-0 spurt, but a layup by Carter in the final seconds gave the Eagles a 28-14 advantage after the first quarter.

Chapel Hill opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run. Two Jayvin Mayfield layups and a dunk by Kelley cut the score to 28-20 in the opening minute of the period. Washington answered back and outscored the Bulldogs 19-7 the rest of the quarter to lead 46-27 at halftime.

The Eagles outscored the Bulldogs 22-7 in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 68-34.

Jayvin Mayfield finished with 15 points and seven steals for No. 15 Chapel Hill (30-5). Kelley had 13 points, 16 rebounds and two blocks. Isiah Mayfield and Malik Gee each had 7 points. Isiah Mayfield also grabbed 11 rebounds. Jorden Ford scored 3 points, and Jordyn Bradshaw had 1 point.

Kirksey had 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals for the Eagles. Samuel Johnson had 12 rebounds.

It was the final high school basketball game for three Chapel Hill seniors — SFA football signees Kelley and Jayvin Mayfield, along with Andrew Snoddy.

“They’ve meant a lot to this program,” Johnson said. “I’m going to miss those guys. All three of those guys are going to go off and do big things. Cameron and Jayvin, they’ll go to SFA, and Andrew, he will look to play basketball at the next level, and I’m sure we will be able to find him a spot. All three of those guys, they started this, and I don’t see us slowing down anytime soon.”

Silsbee defeated Houston Washington, 79-70, for the Region III championship on Saturday. Silsbee (29-10), ranked No. 6, won over Houston Wheatley, 77-55, on Friday in the first semifinal.

The Eagles end their season at 27-5.