By Michael Adams
madams@onthesidelinessports.com

In a span of three days, the Connally Cougars have notched two statement wins over a pair of District 23-5A’s top teams.

It began with Wednesday’s 54-50 road win over Elgin, the No. 1 team in On the Sidelines Sports Class 5A Austin Metro Power Poll The Cougars delivered a final statement with a 67-52 home win over upstart Cedar Creek on Friday.

That statement: The reigning district champions are still here.

“We played a pretty tough pre-district schedule, everyone’s looking at our record and seeing that we have eight losses, but we are playing some really strong teams,” said Connally head coach John Howie. “You cannot win district in November. Outside of a last possession against Georgetown, we’d be sitting at 3-0… I think we will be in the hunt.”

Connally (12-8, 2-1 District 23-5A) had three players score in double digits, with sophomore Anthony Phagans scoring a team high 20 points. Phagans scored 16 of those in the fourth quarter, including two three-point field goals.

The Cougars got hot from behind the three-point line after a slow start and scoring 12 points in the first quarter.

Junior forward Mekhai Bryant scored 12 of his 19 points from behind the three-point arc, while senior Jordan Wright scored 9 of his 11 points from three-pointers.

In all, Connally made a total 10 three-point field goals.  

“We were hitting threes during the early shoot around, so I kind of expected us to haxve a good night,” Phagans said. “We did what we needed to do.”

• See more photos from Friday’s game

Friday’s loss snapped a four-game winning streak for Cedar Creek (16-7, 1-2), which finished in sixth place with a 3-11 district record in 2022-23. The Eagles were coming off a huge 72-48 win over East View on Tuesday.

Junior forward KJ Franklin scored 26 points in Cedar Creek’s win over the Patriots but was held to just four points against Connally.

Senior guard Robert Conrad led the Eagles on Friday with 19 points, while Micha McDonald scored 15 after dropping 14 against East View.

Cedar Creek was able to stay within striking distance of Connally through three quarters, and only trailed by six points heading into the final quarter.

That’s when the Cougars caught fire and went on a 10-0 run to open the quarter and never looked back.

Up Next

Connally at Bastrop, 7:30 p.m., Tuesday

Elgin at Cedar Creek, 7 p.m., Tuesday

Box score

Connally 67, Cedar Creek 52	1	2	3	4
Cedar Creek	9	15	8	20
Connally	12	14	12	29