McKINNEY, Texas — Karmelo Anthony’s lawyer Tuesday blamed slain high-schooler Austin Metcalf for the teens’ fatal run-in at a track meet — as Anthony stuck to his long-shot self-defense argument.

Anthony, 19, is accused of fatally stabbing Metcalf after the 17-year-old victim asked Anthony to leave his school’s tent at a Frisco stadium where their rival teams were competing April 2, 2025.

The jury reached a verdict for deliberating less than three hours — as Anthony’s supporters outside court shouted at cops that the entire process was racist.

“This whole thing been racist. We didn’t make it racist!” one claimed.

The atmosphere grew tense as a pro-Anthony crowd outside court waited for the verdict to be read.

“Austin Metcalf had no legal right to use force to eject Karmelo Anthony from that tent,” Anthony’s lawyer, Mike Howard, said during closing arguments at the Collin County trial — as Anthony looked on intently from the defense table.

“He had the right to ask him to leave, but he didn’t have any legal right to use force,” Howard said of Metcalf, according to a report by the Daily Mail.

Witnesses testified that several members of Frisco Memorial High School, including Metcalf, asked Anthony, then a 17-year-old student at Frisco Centennial High School, to leave their team tent roughly 15 times.

Metcalf eventually shoved Anthony, who responded by plunging a semi-serrated folding knife once in Metcalf’s chest, students testified.

Howard said Anthony “had an absolute right to defend himself.

“If you wait until it’s too late to defend yourself, it’s meaningless,” the lawyer said.

A friend of the Metcalf family shook her head and mouthed, “What is this?” as Anthony’s lawyer spoke.

In his own closings, prosecutor Bill Wirskye refuted Howard’s arguments, saying, “You don’t get to meet a shove with a stab, especially if you provoke the shove,” according to a report by local outlet NBC DFW.

Jurors earlier heard from students who were at the Kuykendall Stadium that day, when Anthony warned at one point during the dispute with Metcalf, “Touch me and find out,” as he had his hand inside his backpack. suggesting he would pull something out.

A few students from Memorial testified that Anthony provoked the fight.

Wirskye told the jurors not to let the defense “turn a taunting, provoking threat into some kind of benign warning.

“Why didn’t he just walk away?” the prosecutor said. 

But Howard claimed that the Memorial teammates, including Metcalf and his twin, Hunter, were crowded around a seated Anthony, who felt threatened.

“Do you turn your back?” Howard said. “Where you can’t defend yourself if their teammates jump in?”

Before the closings began Tuesday morning, Anthony’s family members formed a circle outside court and held hands as they prayed ahead of what could be the day he learns his fate. 

Jurors began deliberating before noon. They must decide whether to convict Anthony on one count of first-degree murder. 

They can also opt to convict on a lesser charge of manslaughter. But Wirske reminded them that they can only go for the less-serious count if they all decide to acquit on murder.

The prosecutor told the jury they should consider Anthony’s mindset rather than his motive.

“It’s mindset, mindset,” Wirskye said. “He took a knife to a track meet. He of course felt empowered that he was going to come out on top of any encounter.”

Anthony faces up to life in prison if he’s convicted of first-degree murder. If convicted of manslaughter, he’ll face between two to 20 years behind bars.