AUSTIN — Last week, sophomore D’Angelo Allen scored 11 points against Manor and 14 against South Oak Cliff as Kimball qualified for the state tournament.
His performance might have gone largely unnoticed as teammates Keith Frazier and Shannon Lilly generally attract the majority of attention with their perimeter game.
Kimball coach Royce “Snoop” Johnson noticed, though. He calls Allen, a 6-6 forward, a necessary piece for the team’s success. So have college recruiters. Allen already has offers from Arkansas, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Oregon, Oklahoma and Texas A&M.
Now, Allen would like to make himself even better known as Kimball (33-5) prepares to meet Houston Yates (33-5) in the Class 4A state final at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
“They already got the exposure a little bit,” he said of Yates. “I feel like they have a little too much exposure. I’m going to show them what I’ve got.”
Allen didn’t just burst onto this stage. His ascent has been riddled with complications, most of them self-inflicted.
When the season began, he admits to not getting along with Frazier. They lacked cohesiveness, weren’t sure when to feed the ball to each other, and Allen acknowledges that he was a little selfish.
When they started working together on the court, Kimball improved. But then Allen encountered another problem: He became academically ineligible and missed most of district play.
“I should have taken care of business in the first place,” he said.
Allen came back at just the right time. And Kimball will clearly need him for Saturday’s championship game. As tough as the Yates guards are, its forwards — Melvin Swift and Clyde Santee in particular — can run the floor as well as play the typical post game.
Allen scored only four points Thursday in the semifinal against a rugged Alamo Heights team. He knows his team needs better against Yates.
A big game also will show he belongs on the same stage with and deserves the same recognition as players such as Frazier and Lilly.