Well, if you like OT…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
The Boneman has entered his humbled abode here about 12:45 in the morning. You know, just a mere 13 hours after he left to watch basketball at the Carl Albert Titan Classic.
What did I see? How about two double overtime games and one quadruple overtime game where the winner only had 50 points.
The basketball gods were smiling on me because they knew I had not seen one game yet this year of HS basketball.
Let’s get to it…
Millwood 55, Ardmore 50 (boys): Falcons stepped up the defensive pressure and forced Ardmore to speed up.
You’d think that would be to the Tigers liking with their quickness, but they were out of control and Millwood turned a seven-point third quarter deficit into a fairly easy, if not long, win. The fourth quarter was clocked at 38 real-time minutes.
Carl Albert 52, Del City 42 (boys): I was here last year when CA’s Steven Johnson hit a floating game-winner at the buzzer.
No such heroics needed today. DC did a good job on Harrison Dupont, but that just meant that J.T. Realmuto had a fine day.
I liked what I saw from Carl Albert. I’m going to throw out a name that I think will determine how far the Titans go: PG Kendall Parks.
He doesn’t score much, but he’s going to have to be able to distribute the ball. I was surprised at how much Dupont was being the primary ball-handler. Parks is going to need to be that man down the stretch.
He showed glimpses of being able to cope with pressure just fine, so just has to put it together.
I’m a fan of the Calhoun boys at DC (Ismail and Isaiah). But this is a day Isaiah would like to forget. He only scored two points and had some real good looks at the bucket.
Ismail was on his game until he picked up his fourth foul with 3:51 left in the third, ouch.
Excellent atmosphere for the natural rivalry.
Midwest City 63, Guthrie 58, 2OT (Boys): And this is where the fun started. I kinda sat this one out and let my boy Ryan Aber cover it. Hey, Boneman’s gotta eat sometime, right?
MWC’s Xavier McClish was shooting lights out. Is he always like this? That was a fun outing to watch.
Also impressed with the development of Robert Wakefield in the post. I wrote a story on him last year, so I recognized that name right away.
Guthrie’s Donte’ Foster had a chance to seal the deal in regulation but missed about an 18-footer. Foster came through last year when Guthrie defeated MWC in last year’s Titan Classic final.
Amazed at how much Keaton Callins has progressed. Nice touch from the field and great poise under fire.
Tough way for the Jays to lose their first game of the season, but a HUGE win for Dewayne Bradley and company.
Booker T. 67, Union 65, 2OT (Boys): About three times I counted out Union in this game. See, shows what I know.
I’m a little ga-ga for BTW’s three guards (Bryan Harris, Ian Ponds and Tharone Chilton). They can all dribble, all shoot, spells problems for everyone else.
But Union simply would not go away. All the kudos to Tracy Moore. He’s not a basketball player, but he gives so much effort. OSU got lucky with getting him for football.
Also impressed with Union’s Levi Giese. He was scoring down low early and nailing 3’s (what?) late. Unfortunately, a late foul by Giese led to BTW hitting game-winning FTs to advance to the final. And game-winning FTs would rear its ugly head again later.
Del City 38, Carl Albert 33 (Girls): This game surprised me. It was a tough, gritty battle. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen the DC girls play.
While everyone was kinda stubbing their toes, DC’s Desiree Jeffries took over late. She scored the team’s final six points to even the count at 1-1 in the rivalry with the boys and girls.
It was interesting watching DC’s Toni Young and CA’s Kylie Mayes fight it out inside. Both have tremendous futures ahead of them.
Union 50, Millwood 49, 4OT (Girls): Yes, you read that right. Union boys were bitten by late FTs. The girls had it swing the other way.
Destinee Frierson made the second free throw with 1.1 left in quadruple OT to give the Redskins the win.
Personally, I thought it was a bad call. It was a no call. Frierson had her back to the basket on the wing at the 3-point line in a heavy crowd of both Millwood and Union girls. She wasn’t going to get off a viable attempt.
But the whistle was blown and she sank it. Gotta give it to her.
If you remember last year, Frierson was the reason I picked Union to win 6A. While all the talk was about Union’s Lindsay Palmer and Sapulpa’s Alyssia Brewer (both deserve the accolades), I felt/feel Frierson is a special talent.
Millwood girls, I don’t know what to say. I keep thinking “there’s no way this group can amount to much.” But the Falcons have a great floor general in Shea Bowden, good post players in JohVonna Mitchell and Marisha Wallace and a deadly 3-point artist in Tijiasha Reid.
If it wasn’t close to 1 a.m., I’d write more about it. Alas, I’m hours away from heading back to the Classic, so I apologize. Check back Sunday as I wanted to throw out some facts and figures from this game. It’s an anomaly, for sure.
Eight overtimes one day, two great finals coming up (Del City vs. Union for the girls and MWC vs. Booker T. for the boys). Should be fun.
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