Silence filled CHS Arena as the Coppell boys basketball team trailed by three points with six seconds of the game. Frisco Memorial had possession preparing to inbound the ball.
Frisco junior power forward Xander Pruzinsky found senior point guard Dylan Steffe to start the clock.
The time starts. Three point difference. Coppell trailing.
Two Coppell defenders instantly pressure Steffe. A whistle blew, Coppell senior guard Isaiah Fleming was charged with a shooting foul as Steffe went out of bounds, and the call sealed the game’s fate.
Hitting one of two free throws, Steffe brings the score to 77-73 to finish on Tuesday night at the CHS Arena, the Warriors victorious over the Cowboys.
The Cowboys spent most of the night trading blows with the Warriors, within a single possession across most of the second half. Senior guard Sebastian Peña sparked late energy, sinking consecutive buckets and with a fast-break layup, cutting the lead to 74-71 with 1:31 remaining.
Fleming, who pushed the tempo all game, added a coast-to-coast layup in the final minutes to narrow the gap again, keeping Coppell alive until the final whistle.
“If we’re making effort mistakes, I can live with that,” Fleming said. “Win, lose or draw, we can build off it. Everybody came ready, and we just have to build off that and not get frustrated with this one.”
After a turnover in the final minute and critical foul, Fleming said focus made the difference.
“That turnover hurt us a lot,” he said. “We could’ve called the timeout. But we kept the game tight and were focused the whole time. Whenever we went down, we didn’t stay down, we stayed locked in.”
Coppell coach Ryan Murphy was confident in the direction of his team throughout the game.
“You can’t control what the refs call,” Murphy said. “But we could’ve done a much better job boxing out and rebounding and not put ourselves in a situation where you’re trusting an official to make the right call in the last five seconds.”
The Warriors trapped aggressively near the baseline, closing off Coppell’s spacing and forcing rushed decisions late.
“We’ve got to stay off the sideline,” Murphy said. “They’re trapping up there, and it cuts off half the court. We have to stay in the middle where we can spray the ball to open shooters.”
And with another game on Thursday, the Cowboys won’t have long to bask in the loss. Fleming said the team leaves tonight with belief intact.
“We built this brotherhood,” he said. “It’s only going up from here.”
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