PLEASANTON — There are eight teams left in the UIL Class 5A boys basketball state playoffs, and the McAllen High Bulldogs are one of them after defeating Georgetown 48-37 in their Region IV-5A semifinal matchup Tuesday at Pleasanton High School.

“It’s almost unreal. It still hasn’t hit me yet,” McHi senior captain Quinllion Canada said. “We won, but this is what happens when hard work is put in, you expect things like this. We’re happy. We’re happy for our coach. We’ve all been working hard here at McHi. It’s about time.”

The Bulldogs (23-7, 12-2) held their fourth straight playoff opponent to under 50 points by locking up on the defensive end and turning it into offense. Georgetown entered the game averaging 57.6 points on the year, posting scores of 65, 71 and 65 during its first three playoff games.

“We got a lot of dog in us. We have great defense, that’s what got us here,” McHi sophomore post Kaharie Loggins said. “We’ve been locking down teams and that’s what got us the win.”

The Bulldogs limited Georgetown to eight points during the first quarter and only four more during the second, claiming a 19-12 lead at the break.

“We told them at halftime we can play with these guys. We’ve already weathered the storm, now we just have to get stops, stops, stops, and we did and they did a great job of it,” McHi head coach Ryan Flores said.

Canada set the tone early for the Bulldogs, as he started in attack mode with nine points during the first quarter. His offensive assertiveness opened things up and created opportunities all over the court.

McHi’s Quinllion Canada Jr., (4) attempts a shot over Georgetown’s Kade Locklin (2) during the Region IV-5A semifinals at Pleasenton High school gymnasium on Tuesday, March,03,2021. (Special To The Monitor/ Julio Montalvo)

“I just wanted to be patient and take what they give me. I think that really set the tone and gave confidence in our guys and opened up the floor for our guys to score,” Canada said.

The McHi senior guard finished with 13 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block.

After Canada went to work early, the rest of the dog pack took turns making plays. Junior Robert Canul was near perfect from the field as his jumper was silky smooth for a team-high 15 points. Freshman Danny Canul scored nine, junior Jordon Chappell had six and senior Nathan Mangum added two.

Loggins provided significant minutes off the bench as he battled on the boards against Georgetown’s bigs. The sophomore had three points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks to help the Bulldogs advance to Round 5.

McHi’s Kaharie Loggins (4) snags a rebound away from Georgetown’s Landry Woods (30) during the Region IV-5A semifinals at Pleasenton High school gymnasium on Tuesday, March,03,2021. (Special To The Monitor/ Julio Montalvo)

“We just have to continue playing good basketball. Q (Quin) started off well, Robert got hot, Danny hit some shots, we got Jordon coming off the bench getting some offensive rebound putbacks,” Flores said. “I think we’re so versatile as a team, it’s kind of hard to stop us. One game it’s Kaharie, one game it’s Jaylon, one game it’s Robert, but Q is always there being consistent. So who do you stop when you play the McHi Bulldogs?”

McHi is moving on to the Region IV-5A final this weekend for a matchup against Leander Glenn (23-4, 12-2). Glenn topped Victoria West 61-59 to move on to the Elite 8. Game details are to be determined.

“We just want to represent the Valley, represent McHi and keep on moving forward,” Canul said.

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