CHINA SPRING – Trailing by four points heading into the fourth period, the No. 21 May Tigers outscored Neches 17-7 over the final eight minutes to secure a Class A Division I Region III area basketball championship here Friday night.

May (24-9) led Neches (24-10) by a 15-13 count after one period, but fell behind 26-21 at halftime and faced a 34-30 deficit after three quarters.

Kobey Morris led the come-from-behind effort for the Tigers with 18 points trailed by 13 from Brody Stice, nine from Tyran Perry, four from Kaden Watkins, two from Mikey Scheriger and one point from Jackson Lusk.

Neches received 11 points from Dylan Dennis, 10 from Ethan Sterling, nine from Kentson Barrett, six from Logan Taylor, and five points from Brysn Bartram.

The Tigers will move on to the Class A Division I Region III semifinals where they will face No. 10 Perrin-Whitt (27-6) – a 51-18 area round winner over Dodd City – early next week. Perrin-Whitt ended May’s postseason run a year ago.

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Other Friday Playoff Basketball Scores

Seagraves 44, Bangs Dragons 34

Wells 75, Zephyr Bulldogs 61

Goldthwaite Eagles 86, Yorktown 56 – advances to regional semifinals

Goldthwaite Lady Eagles 42, Burton 31 – advances to state semifinals