| CHOCTAW
- The perennial power Millwood Falcons notched their 50th state tournament
victory in school history Thursday afternoon but it definitely wasn’t one
of the easier first round contests in head coach Varryl Franklin’s outstanding
tenure.
Sixth ranked Oklahoma Christian gave the tradition-rich Oklahoma City squad
all it wanted and more before Millwood prevailed 60-58 in a double-overtime
thriller in the Class 3A boys state tournament opener.
The Falcons will meet Sequoyah Tahlequah in semifinal action Friday after
the third ranked Indians cruised past Alva, 75-60, in opening round play.
In other games, top ranked Metro Christian held off Marietta, 64-56, and
eighth ranked Chisholm throttled Morris, 75-45.
Millwood
60, Oklahoma Christian 58 (2OT)
The fifth ranked Falcons appeared comfortably in front 36-26 midway through
the third period before the Saints caught fire and made things very interesting
down the stretch.
OCS
closed stanza number three on an 8-0 run, highlighted by a monstrous dunk
from sophomore Taylor Griffin, which brought the crowd to its feet.
It was neck-and-neck through the final frame as Millwood elected to play
for the final shot of regulation with the score knotted at 42.
A.J. Hawkins’ 18-footer was too long and Cory Muse came up with the rebound
for Millwood before having his follow attempt rejected by Griffin to force
the first extra frame. Griffin’s layin 10 seconds into overtime gave Oklahoma
Christian its only lead of the game and moments later the sensational sophomore
was forced to the bench with his fifth foul as Donovan Woods converted
a conventional three-point play.
Even with Griffin out of the game, the Saints hung tough behind juniors
Seth Marcus and Joel Evans, with Evans sinking a pair of pressure-packed
free throws with 3.2 seconds left to force a second extra frame tied at
51.
Millwood’s quickness finally took over in double overtime as they cashed
in back-to-back Oklahoma Christian turnovers midway through the period
and the Saints weren’t able to recover following a Denard Hunt layup and
three charity tosses by Hawkins and Hunt.
Hawkins finished with a game-high 21 points to pace Millwood, who move
on with a 17-10 record. Woods added 17 points, including seven after regulation
while Muse finished with 10.
Griffin
totaled 20 points for the Saints, which end a fabulous campaign at 25-3.
Marcus and Evans tossed in 18 apiece.
Sequoyah Tahlequah 75, Alva
60
Sequoyah closed the first quarter on a spectacular
20-2 flurry and the fourth ranked Goldbugs were never able to totally recover.
Alva led 4-3 early on
before a Solomon Horsechief three-pointer ignited an Indian stampede that
forced Goldbugs coach Steve Shiever to call three timeouts to attempt to
stem the tide.
It didn’t help much as Sequoyah built a 23-6 advantage
after one frame.
Alva finally managed
to get its offense on track in the second period, rallying behind the one-two
combination of Jared Mitchell and Grant Berning to cut the Indians’ lead
to 29-23 at intermission.
The Goldbugs were
still within striking distance until another patented Sequoyah explosion
all but put the game away. Sophomore Jeff Elizondo pumped in a three-pointer
and Horsechief added eight straight points to key the 13-0 run that made
it 48-28 and Alva never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Horsechief was the catalyst
of the Sequoyah offense with 25 points, including 13 in the big third period.
Elizondo contributed 13, Tucson Grigg had 12 and John Bird also chipped
in 10 as four Indians hit double figures.
Mitchell pumped
in 16 in the second half to finish with a team-high 22 points for Alva,
which ends at 21-7. Berning chipped in 15 points while Tyler Thompson had
12.
Metro
Christian 64, Marietta 56
Junior
post Matt Canady poured in 31 points to lead the top ranked Patriots on
to the semifinals.
Metro
bolted to a 17-11 lead after one quarter but watched as Marietta rallied
to surge in front 26-25 at intermission.
A 17-8
edge in the third period gave the Patriots the lead they would never relinquish
as the Indians could never quite find an answer for the 6-8 Canady inside.
Bailey
Jones also added 18 points as Metro improved to 26-1 and remained unbeaten
against 3A foes this season.
Kyric
Rambo sparked Marietta with 17 points while Trenile Washington added 12.
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