Klein Forest claims first-ever team title

Klein Forest claims first-ever team title
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They finished what they started.

Originally Appeared on VYPE

AUSTIN – When Remon Smith took over the Klein Forest men's track program three years ago, he told the then-freshman that if they stuck with him they would be state champions.

On Saturday, Smith lived up to that promise.

Klein Forest scored 42 points as a team, took silver in the 4×100 and 4×200-meter relays and claimed the program's first-ever Class 6A Men's Track & Field Team State Championship.

"It's a great honor," Smith said. "The guys have worked hard. These guys have been coached for the past two or three years. We'd get to regionals and come up a little short. This year they came with the mindset of 'we're going to finish the job' and those guys put in the work since day one. They accomplished the job.

"They finished what they started."


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Houston wins again! Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images.

Emanuel Sharpe scored 26 points, LJ Cryer had 20 and second-ranked Houston stifled No. 17 BYU in a 74-54 victory Friday night that moved the Cougars into the Big 12 Tournament championship game for the second consecutive season.

Milos Uzan added 14 points and Mylik Wilson pulled down 13 rebounds, helping the tournament's top seed jump to a big early lead and roll into Saturday night's matchup with Arizona on a 12-game win streak.

Houston (29-4) played without J'Wan Roberts, its leading rebounder, after he sprained his ankle early in the second half of the Cougars' quarterfinal win over Colorado. Roberts watched from the bench with his right foot in a walking boot.

He got to watch quite a defensive show by one of the nation's best.

Houston forced BYU to miss its first nine shots, including seven from beyond the arc, where coach Kevin Young's team had set a Big 12 Tournament record with 18 made 3s on its way to 96 points in a quarterfinal win over Iowa State. That nearly seven-minute lull allowed Houston to roar to a 15-0 lead that it spent the rest of the game protecting.

BYU trimmed its 40-21 halftime deficit to 13 midway through the second half but never threatened to come all the way back.

Keba Keita had 14 points and 12 rebounds for BYU. Dawson Baker scored 11 points and Richie Saunders had 10.

Takeaways

BYU still has not won a conference tournament title since 2001 in the Mountain West.

Houston lived up to its billing as the nation's No. 1 team in defensive efficiency.

Key moment

Sharpe converted a four-point play with 13:40 left in the first half to give Houston its 15-0 lead.

Key stat

Houston has beaten BYU by an average of 25.5 points in their two games this season.

Up next

Houston will play the Wildcats for the Big 12 title.

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