Kilgore’s Season Comes to End With Regional Semifinal Loss to Defending Champ Dallas Madison

COMMERCE – A fast and furious start lifted Dallas Madison to a 68-47 win Friday night, bringing a young Kilgore team’s playoff run to a screeching halt.

Defending state champion Madison forced first 10 first-quarter turnovers, building a quick 13-1 lead midway through the opening stanza in the win.

Madison will face Frisco Lone Star in the Class 3A Region II final at Texas A&M-Commerce.

Highly-recruited junior guard Admon Gilder finished with a game-high 18 points after seeing limited action in the second half for the Trojans, who improved to 28-3 on the season. Johnathan Turner added 14 points for Madison, which had seven shooters finish with at least three points.

Trey Conrod led a group of Kilgore underclassman that put up 44 of the Bulldogs’ 47 points in the loss. Conrod finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Junior Nick Orange followed with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Xavier Gaona added nine points and eight rebounds for Kilgore, which brought home the District 16-3A title with an unblemished run.

Gaona and Orange had back-to-back buckets late in the first quarter to pull Kilgore within eight points, which would be the lowest deficit the rest of the way.

Madison then used a 12-0 run to close out the frame for a 25-5 lead after the first quarter and the Trojans took a 36-12 lead into halftime.

With its starters back on the court, Madison built its largest lead of the night at 37 points after the third quarter.

Orange had a pair of threes and Conrod finished 6-for-6 from the free-throw line as the two combined for 16 points in the fourth quarter for Kilgore.