AUSTIN — It took a two-time defending state champion to finally end Idalou’s incredible playoff journey.

Ponder, a school that does not play football, brought the Wildcats’ hopes of a Cinderella state basketball championship to a halt quickly and with authority. The Lions shot 57 percent in the first half, 48.8 percent for the game and held Idalou to 33.3 percent shooting en route to a 66-40 win in the Class 2A state championship game Saturday at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center.

The loss halted Idalou’s hopes of its first state championship after an improbable run through the playoffs. The Wildcats (30-7), picked to finish fourth in District 3-2A, qualified for the postseason as the second seed, won five games in the postseason and shocked No. 1 New Waverly to reach the title game.

Idalou's CJ Parkhill, right, and Jacob Johnson hug after the Wildcats lost the 2A state championship game to Ponder on Saturday. (John A. Bowersmith/Avalanche-Journal)

Idalou's Alec Estes dives for a loose ball against Ponder's Scott Gregg Saturday during the 2A Texas state basketball tournament at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. Idalou lost to Ponder 66-40. (John A. Bowersmith/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Idalou's Jacob Johnson leaps to save a ball from going out of bounds in front of the Idalou bench during the Class 2A state championship game Saturday at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. Idalou lost to to Ponder, 66-40. (John A. Bowersmith/Avalanche-Journal)

“(The season) has been more special than I could have ever imagined,” first-year head coach Tyler Helms said. “We would have liked to have won today, but Ponder’s a great team. They’re very fundamentally sound. But I can’t say enough about our guys. Being my first year here, I think these guys have gone beyond what anyone thought they would do, and to end up playing in the Drum in the last game for the championship, that’s pretty amazing.”

But they couldn’t overcome Ponder’s amazing shooting or experience as a three-time state champion.

Senior forward Kaleb Broadstreet opened the game with a 3-pointer, and the Lions (37-4) never trailed. Ponder led 20-14 at the end of the quarter but spent the next two periods clamping down on the Wildcats, holding them to just eight points total in the second and third periods.

“I know for me personally I got frustrated,” said senior forward C.J. Parkhill, who along with Riley Payne led the Wildcats with nine points. “At halftime we cooled down a little bit from it. Ponder had a lot to do with it but we beat ourselves by not doing what we’re supposed to do. We didn’t rotate (defensively) the way we’re supposed to. We hadn’t seen an offense like that and it pretty much ate us up.”

Leading 37-19 to start the third, Ponder scored the first 15 points of the period, not allowing an Idalou point until Alec Estes hit one of two free throws with 53 seconds left in the quarter.

“The shots just didn’t fall for us,” said senior guard Jacob Johnson, who had just five points in the game. “That’s been a big help the past four games and in the regional tournament was we were making those shots. That helped us (Friday) when we were making shots, and we just didn’t hit them today. Sometimes that’s how it goes.”

It also didn’t help that the Wildcats committed 19 turnovers, many of which led to transition buckets for Ponder.

Broadstreet finished 4 of 5 from 3-point range for his game-high 18 points, and senior guard David Robertson added 16 for Ponder, which repeated as state champion despite graduating four starters from last year’s team.

“The guys put in a lot of hard work to get to this point,” said Ponder head coach Jude Stanley, a Texas Tech alumnus. “We were able to move the basketball and get a lot of easy shots, and we knocked down a lot of shots. We lost four senior starters from last year and had to regroup, and a lot of people wrote us off. I’m proud of the guys’ effort and again we’re just blessed to be in this position.”

Idalou, however, won’t have to rebuild much to get back to the tournament. The Wildcats lose just two
seniors in Johnson and Parkhill, and had plenty of sophomores and juniors who played key roles in their 2010 playoff run.

“No one expected us to do much, but it feels good to get this far,” Johnson said. “Most people don’t get to play in the Drum so, while it sucks to lose your last game, it feels really good to get to play here.”

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CLASS 2A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
at Frank Erwin Special Events Center, Austin
PONDER 66, IDALOU 40
PONDER — Huerta 0-4 2-2 2, Broadstreet 7-8 0-0 18, Gregg 3-5 3-4 9, Young 2-4 0-0 6, Robertson 5-10 4-4 16, Bean 0-0 0-0 0, Davenport 0-0 2-2 2, Yeager 1-1 1-2 3, Shirley 1-2 1-1 3, Brown 2-4 0-0 4, Blackmon 0-0 0-0 0, Burke 0-2 2-2 2, Ford 0-3 1-2 1, Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-43 16-21 66.
IDALOU — Payne 3-7 2-3 9, Parkhill 1-14 6-8 9, Estes 2-4 3-6 7, Johnson 2-6 1-2 5, Adkins 1-3 0-0 2, Dowdy 1-3 1-3 4, Schilling 0-1 0-0 0, Turner 0-0 0-1 0, Thornton 1-3 0-0 2, Buckner 1-2 0-0 2, Zahn 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-43 13-23 40.
Ponder 20 17 15 14 — 66
Idalou 14 5 3 18 — 40
3-point goals: Ponder 8-17 (Broadstreet 4-5, Young 2-4, Robertson 2-4, Huerta 0-1, Burke 0-1, Ford 0-2); Idalou 3-10 (Payne 1-1, Dowdy 1-1, Parkhill 1-8). Rebounds: Ponder 34 (Robertson 7); Idalou 26 (Parkhill 6). Assists: Ponder 16 (Young 6); Idalou 5 (Johnson 3). Steals: Ponder 11 (Davenport 3); Idalou 12 (Johnson 3). Blocked shots: Ponder 3 (Gregg 3); Idalou 4 (Parkhill 2). Total fouls: Ponder 17, Idalou 19. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: none. Records: Ponder 37-4, Idalou 30-7.