High school boys basketball: Mason Ford heats up, sparks Timpview’s win over team from Texas

Timpview senior guard Mason Ford provided the spark his team needed in a surprisingly tense game against Lufkin, Texas at the Lehi Holiday Shootout on Friday evening.

With Lufkin leading 44-41 midway through the third quarter after a four-point possession that was aided by a Timpview technical foul, Ford caught fire and completely changed the game’s momentum.

He scored 12 points over a two-minute span, igniting a 20-0 run to close the quarter as the T-Birds ran away for the 71-53 victory.

Ford sank three straight 3-pointers during the stretch and also added a three-point play, finishing the game with 14 points, the most he’s scored since a region game against Cedar Valley his sophomore year.

“Never done that before. That was a fun stretch,” said Ford, who missed the month leading up to the start of the season with a groin injury.

“My groin is good now, it’s just telling myself I’m good to go 100% full speed. We’re getting there.”

Timpview improved to 7-0 with the victory, while Lufkin fell to 8-2 with the loss.

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BYU signee Will Openshaw led the T-Birds with 21 points, while Lufkin’s Austin Brown — a Maryland signee — also scored 21.

Brown unintentionally sparked Timpview’s frantic finish to the third quarter when he was involved in a bit of tussle with Timpview’s Dean Rueckert after the two tried collecting a loose ball.

Brown appeared to get Rueckert in a headlock and didn’t exactly seem interested in letting go as the two tried running up floor. They eventually fell to the floor together before the refs intervened.

Rueckert, Timpview’s other BYU signee, and Brown were assessed a double-foul, but Timpview’s Lincoln Holcombe received a technical foul for coming onto the floor as the incident happened right in front of the T-Birds bench.

While the refs tried to sort things out, Timpview’s five players got together and refocused.

“Our guys came together and said alright, let’s get back to our brand of basketball, which is guarding our butts off on the defensive end, getting stops, one shot and done and then being able to run in transition,” said Timpview coach Brad Kitchen.

Even more specifically, Ford recalls tell the players on the floor, “I know our game is better than theirs, so if we just play our game and the work we put in we will come out on top.”

After Brown hit the two technical free throws and then Kevo Moore added a layup to give Lufkin its largest lead of the game at 44-41, Ford went off.

He hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 44, which was followed by a layup from Jackson Palmer and then Openshaw’s second 3-pointer of the game to stretch the lead to 49-44 with 2:31 left in the third.

Ford converted a 3-point play to extend the lead to 52-44, and then hit back-to-back 3-pointers for the 58-44 advantage.

He didn’t score the rest of the game, but it didn’t matter, as the T-Birds had put the game out of reach.

“His resilience and his resolve to continually come in day after day (despite hurt), I was super proud to finally see the results of just his hard work day in and day out,” said Kitchen.

“It was good to finally see him find his groove and find his rhythm, and I’m super proud of not only him but our team’s resolve because it was a tight game.”