A crowd of 10,000-plus witnessed Clyde Eula (37-2) pull away from Tenaha (28-10) in the fourth quarterand win 64-49 in Saturday morning's Division 1, Class 1A title game at the Erwin Center in Austin.
Eula, located about 20 minutes west of Abilene, took a 30-22 lead into the half, which Tenaha cut to 42-37 after three quarters. That margin was as close as Tenaha would come the rest of the way as Eula eventually stretched the margin to double digits en route to a 22-12 fourth quarter.
Kainon Irons, a 6-foot-4 senior forward, was simply too powerful for Tenaha inside. After scoring 32 points against Everdale in the semifinals, Irons scored 31 points and grabbed 13 boards in the final earning the most valuable player of the tournament.
Jacob Archa, a senior guard, added 16 points and 13 rebounds for Eula.
About an hour from the Louisiana border, Tenaha was led by Reginald Davis, a junior guard and Tenaha's tallest player at 6-1. Davis' 20 points and 20 boards looked dominant on paper, but his shooting 7-27 from the field echoed the struggles of the entire team, which shot 31 percent for the game.
Prior to the loss, Tenaha had won 20 straight games after starting the season 8-9.