Jesuit Dallas made a statement from the tip of Friday's University Interscholastic League (UIL) Region I-6A Area Round contest, taking a 13-0 lead over No. 24 McKinney and using that advantage for a wire-to-wire, 67-50 win over the Lions at Denton Braswell H.S. With the victory, Jesuit Dallas is headed to the UIL Regional Quarterfinal round for the second time in four seasons, where the Rangers will battle Lewisville on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at a time and location to be determined.
Junior
Michael Grant paced the Ranger offense with 27 points, shooting 10-of-17 from the floor, 4-of-7 from three-point range while adding eight rebounds. Senior
Tre Mergerson was a massive contributor on the defensive end, playing a key role in holding McKinney to a 31.6 percent clip from the floor with five blocks and eight boards. Junior
Caleb Steger scored 17 points, Mergerson added nine including a statement-making dunk in the second quarter, senior
Justin Kemp added eight points and junior
Charlie Peters buried a three-pointer for the Rangers.
McKinney was led by Malek Archie, who scored 20 points for the Lions. Jesuit held a 13-point lead with 5:52 left in the second before McKinney cut the lead to two with 1:34 remaining before half, going on a 15-4 run that was propelled by 13 points from Archie. Jesuit was unable to regain more than a two-possession lead until the 1:45 mark of the third quarter, when a 12-3 run spotted the Blue and Gold a nine-point advantage headed into the fourth quarter. Jesuit remained disciplined in the fourth, holding McKinney to only nine shot attempts while forcing three turnovers while only comitting a pair of turnovers to clinch the victory.
The victory sends Jesuit to the regional quarterfinal round for the seventh time in program history. Jesuit also becomes the first fourth seed out of a district in Region I-6A to reach the quarterfinal round, following in the footsteps of Arlington Bowie, who reached the fourth round in the 2019-20 season after wins over L.D. Bell (85-69), El Paso Franklin (86-52) and Frenship (65-55).
Jesuit will match up against Lewisville in the regional quarterfinal, a first-time playoff meeting that pits the Rangers (24-9) against the Fighting Farmers (30-4). The two teams last met in the 2021-22 season-opener, a contest won by Jesuit Dallas, 64-62 at the Jimmy Gales Classic at South Oak Cliff H.S. Dating back to the 1994-95 season, Jesuit holds a narrow, 9-8 advantage over Lewisville over the course of 17 meetings.
This season, Lewisville finished second in District 6-6A with a 10-3 record in district play, finishing behind state top-ranked and undefeated Plano East. Coached by Toby Martin, the Farmers started their playoff run with a 72-66 win over Denton Guyer before Friday's 61-56, overtime win over Arlington Martin. Jesuit Dallas enters the third round as the last remaining team representing District 7-6A in the playoffs, as Highland Park was upended by Plano East, 74-45, on Friday.
