Chapin & Americas Represent El Paso in Regional Quarterfinals

Two El Paso teams will hit the road on Tuesday in hopes of advancing in the Texas state boys basketball playoffs for the second straight year.

Chapin and Americas, both of which advanced to the semifinals of the state playoffs last year, will both try to make back-to-back appearances to the sweet 16.

Check out our conversation with both coaches from yesterday's show:

The Huskies (5A) are coming off an emotional week that ended in a huge success. During their bi-district title win against Horizon, junior sensation KJ Lewis was ejected and was forced to miss their upcoming area round matchup against Amarillo Tascosa. Despite missing their standout player, Chapin was able to push past Tascosa, 57-53, including a come-from-behind finish when they were down 43-34 into the fourth quarter.

"We're a defensive team first. Our backs were against the wall," said head coach Rodney Lewis. "I have a tough team. We have warriors here and we found a way to win."

Up next, Chapin (30-4, 15-0 1-5A) will face Amarillo Palo Duro in Seminole at 5 p.m. local time. Lewis will be rejoining the team for this key matchup.

"Palo Duro is just one of the toughest teams in the state," coach Lewis continued. "They get after you for 32 minutes. They are relentless. They show full-court pressure. Offensively, they are full court as well. They want to go, they want to get in the 80s."

The Trailblazers (6A) feel the familiarity of being this far into the playoffs. Nothing's new for this elite west Texas program. Similar to Chapin, the Trailblazers rallied from a second half deficit against Byron Nelson in the area round, and came out with a win, 55-44. They rely on multiple senior leaders, including Jordan Hernandez and Christian Nevarez who both average double-digits in scoring.

"It helps when you have a senior-laden team," said head coach Mike Brooks. "Guys that went through it last year aren't too surprised of the talent we are going up against this year. We've responded well and hopefully, we can keep it going."

On Tuesday, Americas (34-2, 13-1 1-6A) will square off against Keller Central, who upset Frenship in the area round. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. local time and the game will be played at Andrews high school.

"Hopefully we aren't going to allow them to get out in the open floor and demonstrate their athleticism over ours."

30 famous people you might not know were college athletes

Stacker dug deep to find 30 celebrities who were previously college athletes. There are musicians, politicians, actors, writers, and reality TV stars. For some, an athletic career was a real, promising possibility that ultimately faded away due to injury or an alternate calling. Others scrapped their way onto a team and simply played for fun and the love of the sport. Read on to find out if your favorite actor, singer, or politician once sported a university jersey.