8 Deep East Texas Boys Teams Still Alive in Basketball Playoffs

We are now in the 3rd round of the UIL Boys High School Playoffs. Quite a few teams from the Deep East Texas area have big games coming up on Monday or Tuesday.  Here's a look at those games.

Center Roughriders (28-4) vs Little Cypress - Mauriceville (27-11)

Center, the district champs of 17-4A, squeaked past Madisonville in their first-round game (63-62) before having a much more comfortable victory against Hamshire-Fannett (72-58) in the Area Round.

The Roughriders will now take on Little Cypress - Mauriceville in the Regional Quarterfinals. LCM upset Bullard with a 3-point win in the second round. Center will need to contain Ben Elliott who went off for 40 points and 11 rebounds against Bullard.

The Center/LCM game will take place Tuesday, February 28 at Livingston High School. Tip-off is set for 6 pm.

Central Heights Blue Devils (26-11) vs New Waverly Bulldogs (26-7)

The Blue Devils, district champs of 21-3A, have taken care of Buna and Tarkington in the first two rounds of the playoffs. New Waverly, runners-up in district 23-3A, just disposed of the 22-3A district champs, East Chambers.

This looks to be a tight Regional Quarterfinal matchup which will take place Tuesday, February 28 at 7 pm at Latexo High School.

Grapeland Sandies (27-9) vs LaPoyner Flyers (29-7)

Both the Flyers and Sandies are champs of their respective districts. Both teams have also had rather lopsided victories in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Their Regional Quarterfinal game will take place on Tuesday, February 28 at Athens ISD. The tip-off is at 6 pm.

Tenaha Tigers (18-16) vs Timpson Bears (20-3)

District 23-2A could easily be called the district of doom. The district is stacked with quality basketball teams. 3 of their 4 playoff teams are still alive in the Regional Quarterfinal round. Two of those teams will face off against each other.

Timpson finished first in district while Tenaha finished fourth. Timpson has defeated the Tigers in their previous two matchups, 74-44 and 68-52. But, when these two teams face each other, anything can happen.

This showdown will take place Monday, February 27 at 6:30 pm at Central Heights High School.

Big Sandy Wildcats (27-5) vs Thorndale Bulldogs (24-8)

District 25-2A champs, Big Sandy, will be taking on the 2nd place team from District 27-2A. The Wildcats defeated the 3rd-place team from that district (Hearne) by 19 in the area round.

This game is set for Tuesday, February 28, at 7 pm at Madisonville High School.

Brookeland Wildcats (28-5) vs Martinsville Pirates (29-5)

It's hard to believe that these two teams separated by less than an hour have not played each other this year. These two district champions have been blasting opponents throughout the season and through the first two rounds of the playoffs.

These two teams both have the players to make it to state, but only one will advance after the Regional Quarterfinal round. That game will take place Tuesday, February 28 at 7 pm at Lufkin High School.