HOUSTON — Memorial was just 5:57 away from a second straight 5A Region III final, holding a 44-33 lead.

That was more than enough time for Pflugerville Connally to extend its season.

The Titans could not solve Connally’s pressure down the stretch, and the Cougars capitalized by forcing overtime and taking a 53-47 victory to end the reign of the 5A state champions Friday night at Aldine ISD’s M.O. Campbell Center.

“We just didn’t execute down the stretch,” first-year Titans head coach Alden Lewis said. “Couple of mistakes here and there. We just didn’t execute down the stretch, and that’s a credit to them. Good team over there, good coach.”

Memorial, led by Kenneth Lofton Jr.’s 12 points and Nate Clover’s nine, finished 27-8 and a 5A Region III semifinalist for only the second time in school history. Connally (26-9) will play inner-Travis County foe Manor (27-10), an 85-77 winner over Fort Bend Hightower, at 2 p.m. Saturday at Campbell for a trip to next week’s UIL state semifinals in San Antonio.

“God is good,” Cougars coach Bradley Washington said. “He’s sovereign. These guys bust their tail, and they worked hard.”

Center Eddie Burgess and guard Tyrone Perry each scored six points in the final 5:57, as Connally went on a 13-2 run to force regulation and Memorial missed some chip shots and committed some turnovers. Perry scored off a steal with 1:10 left and, after a Memorial turnover, drove to the basket to knot the game at 46 with 51 seconds left.

“We zoned a little bit, we manned a little bit and forced some turnovers and we hit some shots, finally,” said Washington, his ballclub surviving a 17-for-50 night (3 of 16 from three-point range) from the floor. “God is good.”

Memoiral made 16 of 46 from the floor, including 4 of 12 from three-point range.

Memorial inbounded from side out with 35.6 seconds left, coming out of a timeout. Jaden Conner spun off a defender and missed a running three-point attempt with about 3 seconds left, and Connally’s Robert Myers tracked down a loose ball as time expired.

That’s when Kylin Robinson began to take over, scoring all of the Cougars’ points in the extra 4 minutes.

After each team missed a bonus free throw, the senior guard knocked down a three-pointer with 2:08 left and drove to the hole with 1:09 left to give the Cougars a two-possession lead it wouldn’t blow. Conner missed a three-ball following a missed Connally bonus shot, and Memorial lost the ball out of bounds with 17.6 seconds to go before Robinson — who had a game-high 17 points — sank two free throws to all but seal the deal.

Lewis met with his team for more than 45 minutes following the game, his first season as a head coach ending in a bitter defeat. The 34-year-old was elevated from first varsity assistant to Kenneth Coleman last May and took over a program that had to fill holes left by nine graduates with new playmakers, many of whom saw time on the junior varsity last season.

“Very proud of them,” Lewis said. “The bottom line is, nobody expected us to be here. With a new group like that, of course we wanted to go all the way, but I’m extremely proud of my guys, every last one from myself to the guy at the end of the bench. I’m proud of the coaching staff, and I love everybody. They’ve done a tremendous job.”

Steven Wilson had eight points and Jaden Conner scored seven in their final game for the Titans. Burgess had 12 points and Perry 10 for the Cougars.

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