Garden City Survives Rematch With Water Valley to Win Regional Title

SAN ANGELO, TX — The Garden City Bearkats had a rough start to this season, but they’re having an unforgettable ending.

Garden City pulled away late for a 40-38 win over Water Valley on Friday at the Junell Center to advance to the Class 1A Division I state semifinals.

Garden City lost 11 of its first 16 games this season before finding its stride midway through district play.

The Bearkats (20-15) are now two wins away from a state title. They will take a 10-game winning streak into their state semifinal matchup with No. 20 Valley (33-3).

That game will be played early next week at a site and time to be determined.

Garden City was led Friday by 6-foot-3 senior forward Texas Brinkley, who scored 27 points and was a clutch 11-of-12 from the free-throw line.

Brinkley’s 3-pointer with 2:10 remaining extended Garden City’s lead to 33-29, giving the Bearkats the breathing room they needed to put the game away.

A third-place qualifier from their district, the Bearkats are now the Region II-1A champs. 

“It’s amazing,” Garden City head coach Brad Hall said. “It’s my eighth year here at Garden City, and this has been a long time coming. We’ve put in hours and hours of work, and these guys have bought into what we do. And the defensive side carried us tonight. We started preaching that in the middle of the year, and they nailed it tonight and it was awesome to watch.”

Water Valley, which tied for third place with Garden City in District 11-1A, finished its season with a 17-7 record.

The Wildcats lost to Garden City in both district meetings — 50-33 and 53-48.

This time seemed like it could be different.

Water Valley led 8-5 after the first quarter Friday, and they were up as many as seven points in the second quarter.

Despite three free throws by Brinkley in the final seconds of the half, they were still on top 18-14 at halftime. The game was tied 25-25 after the third quarter.

"Both teams were playing difficult defense, making it hard on people. They just hit a couple more shots than we did. That's what it came down to at the end," Water Valley head coach Matthew Mims said. "You've got to give credit to Garden City. They played their butts off, and Brinkley hit some tough shots at the end that really put them over the edge."

The Wildcats were led by Ramirez with 14 points, Landon Lacy with 13 and Branson Lacy with 11.

Branson was also tasked with trying to slow down Brinkley, who had scored 37 points in the Bearkats' previous playoff win.

Brinkley was held scoreless in the first quarter and had six points in the second quarter. He then had 21 points after halftime.

Hall praised Water Valley's defense slowing down Brinkley in the first half.

"Texas is amazing, and we know he's the center of our offense," Hall said. "Early on, the defensive side was kind of his weakness, but he really amped it up, and everybody else kind of started following his lead on the defensive side."

Brinkley said it was difficult playing a district rival for the regional title.

"It was intense," he said. "We knew coming in here they were going to play. They wanted to go to the state semis just as bad as we did. ... Emotions were high knowing they're a district rival, so it feels really great beating them."

Garden City's Brik Fryar made a crucial basket 1:32 remaining while being fouled. He sank the free throw to give the Bearkats a 36-29 lead.

Branson Lacy hit a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left to get Water Valley within 40-36. He then made a layup just before the clock ran out.

Water Valley fell one game short of duplicating its football team's run to the state semifinals last fall.

"Right now, it's hard to feel super excited (about the season), because I feel like we had a real shot to win this one and keep moving on," Mims said. "But when you look back, it was still a great season. ... The boys, you've got to give them a whole bunch of credit for the way they compete in everything they do, football and basketball, and it's going to be the same when they get out on the track."

Water Valley will lose three seniors from this year's roster.

Garden City also has only three seniors on its roster. Hall said he has watched his players grow throughout this season's journey.

"Early on in the year, we didn't really have an identity. We didn't know who we were. We didn't understand our roles early on. It's just something we learned along the way," Hall said. "We had a lot of long talks with them about what their roles are, and everybody has started excelling in their roles, and they've really jelled to put this team together like it is right now."