The Pflugerville Panthers dug too much of a hole for themselves in their District 25-5A matchup with Westlake and ultimately were unable to dig themselves out of it. The Panthers found themselves down by 17 points two minutes into the third quarter then staged a furious comeback attempt that came up just short as Pflugerville fell 83-79.

Deon Mitchell (24 points) and Demetrius Smith (21 points) led the way for the Panthers (22-5, 5-2) but they were no match for Westlake’s Cody Doolin. The Chaps (7-0) scintillating senior and University of San Francisco signee, scored 29 points in the game including two big free throws with six seconds left to seal the win.

Pflugerville was behind 35-23 at intermission and trailed 42-25 just two minutes into the third quarter when they started chopping away at the Westlake lead. Mitchell, Jerrell Turner and Smith all scored points in a 6-0 Panther run and when Storm Woods knocked down a 3-pointer at the end of the frame the Panthers trailed 57-48.

The comeback, fueled by a barrage of 3-pointers came to its zenith when Smith buried a three with 3:36 on the clock that cut the Chap lead to 68-67. Pflugerville would never get closer than two points the rest of the game and Smith fouled out of the game with 45 seconds left to play. Mitchell hit a three with 45 seconds on the clock that trimmed the Westlake lead to 77-75 and the lead was again two when Darrian Dempsey followed a Mitchell miss to cut the deficit to 79-77. Mitchell scored the final points of the game for Pflugerville on a driving layup that again pulled the Panthers to within two at 81-79 with six seconds to play. Doolin was intentionally fouled and converted both charity shots to wrap up the win.

The two teams traded baskets to open the game as Pflugerville scored points on driving layups by Mitchell and Smith. The Chaps began to pull away, utilizing the size advantage of 6-foot-9-inch Gus Leeper who dropped in a basket to spark an 11-6 run. Smith and Mitchell each knocked down three’s to help the Panthers stay close but Pflugerville still trailed 20-12 after one quarter of play.

The back-and-forth tone of the game continued through the second quarter with the end result being Westlake slowly increasing its lead. Carl Meyertons knocked down a basket to wrap up a 6-0 Chap lead which gave them a 28-18 advantage halfway through the second quarter. Woods and Sammy Flowers answered for the Panthers, but Pflugerville could not trim their deficit to any more than eight points and they eventually trailed 35-23 at intermission.

It was a three-ball by Conner Kemper early in the third quarter that staked Westlake to its largest advantage of the game 42-26. The basket also set off the Panthers furious charge through the second half. Pflugerville fell behind 53-41 late in the third quarter, but got baskets from #21 and Woods to pull to within eight heading into the final quarter of play.