LUMBERTON — One basket after another, Drake Rojas was determined to not let another game against Cleveland slip away from Port Neches-Groves. That just happened on Tuesday in overtime.

So, his brother predicted that Rojas would “go off” in the most important rematch of his high school career.

“My teammates told me to keep going,” Rojas said. “That dude right there, No. 10, he got us going, though.”

Rojas was pointing to Tracy Smith.

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Smith set an early tone with his inside play, and Rojas scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half as PNG clinched a long-awaited playoff berth with a convincing 66-55 win Friday.

PNG’s Indians beat Cleveland’s Indians for the third time in four tries this season, but this one got the purple Indians a ticket to the UIL 5A bi-district round. The purple Indians, earning their first playoff appearance since 2013, will take on Texas City at 7 p.m. Tuesday at North Shore High School in Galena Park.

“It’s always a battle,” PNG coach Pat Abel said. “There’s no opponent we’ve faced that doesn’t test our waters. Our kids have become very resilient and they battle, no matter the circumstance, and I’m very proud of them.”

Smith scored nine of his 22 points in the first quarter and totaled 15 rebounds in the win.

“This means a lot to us,” Smith said. “We’ve been working all year, we’ve been working for it, and we finally got to it.”

PNG (18-14) is enjoying one of its most successful seasons in basketball. The purple Indians are riding their first winning record since the 2016 and achieved some landmark victories in the process, including a home win over Nederland that ended a 13-year drought against the Bulldogs.

“I think, from early on, we had a group that had played together for quite a while, and they’re just confident with each other, and they know where each other is most of the time,” Abel said. “They know this is a special group. You’ve got to have good chemistry.”

But Friday’s game was still well in the balance through three periods. PNG and Cleveland (17-14) were tied at 15 through the first 8 minutes, after the red-and-white Indians responded to a 5-0 deficit. Cleveland took a 25-24 lead at halftime.

Then Rojas took center stage by scoring off the dribble throughout the second half. PNG expanded on a 38-34 lead through three to win.

“Drake’s got the ability to score,” Abel said. “We’re very thankful that he chose the second half to pick that scoring up because we needed it at the time.”

Chance Brown scored 24 points and Jevale Roberson added 19 for Cleveland.

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews