UIL State Track & Field

Fort Bend Marshall boys win Class 5A Crown

Fort Bend Marshall boys win Class 5A Crown
For the third time in the past four seasons Fort Bend captured the Class 5A UIL Boys State Track and Field Championship. Vype

AUSTIN - Fort Bend Marshall is quickly turning into a track and field dynasty.

The Buffs for the third time in the past four seasons captured the Class 5A UIL Boys State Track and Field Championship.

"Everything, I know it's a cliche to say when you win a championship they they're all different but they are," Fort Bend Marshall coach Lloyd Banks said. "This is a different group of kids, different circumstances. Youthful, the way they rose to the occasion was a thing of beauty.

"I'm proud of them."

Heading into the final event of the night, the Buffs needed at least a third-place finish in the 4X400-meter relay race to secure the title.

Trailing Mansfield Legacy by eight points, 56-48, Marshall turned on the burners in the last race of the evening.

The combination of Devon Achane, Dominick Houston-Shepard, Korey King and Henry Thomas proved to be just what they needed.

The group posted a 3:16.47 to take the gold and secure the state championship.

"This is my first year and it's a real great feeling," Shepard said.

The opponents on the track hasn't been the only thing Fort Bend Marshall has had to battle over the last few weeks.

Rumors had been circulating that the school could be altered to potentially an academy and potentially split the athletes to other schools in the district.

Banks did tell VYPE that they are here to stay and no changes will be coming to the high school.

"The fact that the rumors are there kind of bother us," Banks said. "We're doing so many great things outside the athletic realm. I'm happy for our kids and I'm happy for our community. I hope we continue to put a good product on the track, field and classroom.

"The kids were kind of upset about that. Why would you want to close us? What are we doing or not doing for us to be in a position to uphold us. Our kids look at us like we should be a flagship school. That's our mindset. For the last couple of years if you look at it athletically and academically we're there. But because of our social-economic situation sometimes we get the negative tag. If you take the time to look deeper you'll see there are awesome things going on at Fort Bend Marshall. We'll continue to do that."

The Buffs boys track team also took silver in the 4X100 and 4X200-meter relay to help bolster their point total. Of Fort Bend Marshall's 68 points, 52 came from the relay teams.

Houston-Shepard also racked up 14 more points in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles with a third place and second place finish, respectively.

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Nuggets defeat the Rockets, 116-111. Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images.

Jamal Murray had 39 points, Michael Porter Jr. added 17 points and nine rebounds and the Denver Nuggets beat Houston 116-111 on Sunday night to snap the Rockets' nine-game win streak.

Murray, who scored 17 in the first half, had 17 in the third quarter as Denver outscored the Rockets 39-22 in the quarter to take a 96-79 lead.

Russell Westbrook had 14 points off the bench, Aaron Gordon scored 13 points with eight assists and DeAndre Jordan had 11 points and 15 rebounds for the Nuggets, which shot 51% and were 10 of 21 on 3-pointers.

Jalen Green scored 30 points, and Dillon Brooks added 21 points for Houston. Alperen Sengun had 17 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, and Steven Adams finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Rockets, which shot 44% and were 11 of 34 from behind the arc.

Trailing 109-100 with 1 ½ minutes left, Houston used a 7-1 run to cut the lead to three on a Sengun layup with 21 seconds left, but Christian Braun made two free throws with 19 seconds remaining to push the lead back to five.

Takeaways

Nuggets: Nikola Jokic missed his fourth straight game with left ankle impingement, and Denver improved to 2-2 with him out of the lineup.

Rockets: Houston remains in second place in the Western Conference with 10 games left, but the Nuggets closed to within a game of Houston.

Key moment

Sengun made one of two free throws with 14 seconds remaining, and Murray made two free throws two seconds later to push the lead to 114-108.

Key stat

Houston finished 22 of 34 from the free throw line, while Denver made 18 of 26.

Up next

Denver hosts the Chicago Bulls on Monday night, while Houston hosts the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.

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