Wild Day 1 at the PCI
I remember looking at the bracket for last year’s Putnam City Invitational and thinking it was a great tournament.
And they topped themselves this year.
Seven of the teams are ranked in the top 20 of their class, and the only unranked squad is Lawton Eisenhower, which was a preseason top 10 team, but is playing without 6-foot-8 junior D’Andre Wright, out with a broken leg since the season opener.
Of the seven ranked teams, Tulsa Union and Putnam City West are the only ones outside of the top 10 in their class — and they both won in Thursday’s first round.
So, yeah, this tournament is pretty loaded. Here’s a look at Day 1, with Friday’s schedule out at PC West:
Thursday’s results
Putnam City 59, Lawton Eisenhower 49
Midwest City 69, John Marshall 45
Tulsa Union 65, Putnam City North 64
Putnam City West 65, Stillwater 60
Friday’s games
John Marshall vs. PC North, 2 p.m.
Lawton Eisenhower vs. Stillwater, 3:30 p.m.
Midwest City vs. Tulsa Union, 6:30 p.m.
Putnam City vs. PC West, 8 p.m.
A few things that stood out to me…
– A.D. Burtschi is playing a lot more young/inexperienced guys than you typically see from a Putnam City team. But after losing four players who were full- or at least part-time starters a year ago, that was to be expected. The talent is there, but the Pirates have some growing up to do. With Burtschi’s passion for fundamentals and doing things right, you know he’ll get the youthful kinks worked out by March. Dom Raney and Ron’Quis Lewis are big-time talents, so as long as the other guys come together around them, this team will be fine.
– PC West guard Kyndall Dudley is ready to become a star. He would put some good games together last season, but you always wondered if he would be able to do it without Tyler Neal and Amric Fields drawing all the defensive attention. The answer is yes, loud and clear. He hit a pair of big 3s and a couple very impressive short-range jumpers on his way to 27 on the night.
– PC North just can’t catch a break. Top scorer Armon Provo has played through flu-like symptoms in two games this season, including Thursday night. He missed another with an ankle sprain, and was hampered by the injury in another. On Thursday, the last-second loss to Union came when the Redskin point guard tried to drive the lane, but lost the ball, which bounced to Geb Osifeso for a winning 12-foot jumper. Joe Summers, who also played sick in a game earlier this year, made several big plays and scored 22 Thursday. Oh, and the Panthers are still without coach Rick Harris, who has not recovered from an emergency surgery to stop internal bleeding over the holidays. Assistant Brian Beale has done a fantastic job in his place, but best wishes for a quick recovery to Harris.
– Like I wrote in the paper earlier this week, Midwest City is still looking for the right mix in their starting five and rotation. Coach Dewayne Bradley made a good point when I spoke to him at Ardmore last week. A year ago, he had seniors Kendall Parks and Xavier McClish in the gym all year, and those were his two leaders on the floor. This year, the Colbert twins and Greg Austin are the leaders, but all three played football, so there’s a transition period, especially since the leadership role is a change from last year. I think the team is still trying to get comfortable without a clear point guard, like Parks was last year. But they have too much talent to not be tough night in and night out.
Friday should be fun, too, and I’ll be there for all of it.
– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
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