By Scott Hansen
MaxPreps.com
Rotnei Clarke Sets Record
Verdigris guard Rotnei Clarke decided to pick March to build on an increasing legend. In a 90-68 Class 3A opening round victory over Vian Thursday, the 6-0 junior burned the nets for 60 points.
Clarke, a member of the MaxPreps All-American team as a sophomore, scored 30 points in each half while setting a new Oklahoma State Tournament record, eclipsing a 2004 record of 51 set by Frontier's Reggie Weckstein.
In an Area Tournament victory over Adair on Mar. 2, Clarke set a then-personal best by netting 57 in an 82-74 victory.
This and That.
Putnam City North continued to impress by upsetting Jenks in Class 6A, 47-43.
Bishop McGuinness All-State forward Michael Sosanya, who had received lukewarm recruiting interest from a handful of Division I schools but has yet to receive an offer, apparently is ready to trade in his sneakers for cleats.
Sosanya, who is 6-5, 220 pounds, has informed Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy of his intensions to walk-on as a defensive end.
Sosanya has never played football.
The Scores
Class 6A Boys
Tulsa Union 52, Del City 36
Midwest City 74, Tulsa Washington 52
Lawton Eisenhower 55, Broken Arrow 50
Putnam City North 47, Jenks 43
Class 6A Girls
Mustang 54, Owasso 37
Jenks 72, Edmond Santa Fe 49
Sapulpa 68, Norman 50
Del City 52, Tulsa Washington 46
Class 5A Boys
Carl Albert 44, Tulsa Edison 43
Bixby 55, Guthrie 48
Tulsa East Central 61, Shawnee 55
Capitol Hill 52, Tulsa Central 44
Class 5A Girls
Tulsa East Central 62, El Reno 37
Coweta 42, Harrah 42
Carl Albert 56, Bixby 48
Claremore 53, Noble 28
Class 4A Boys
Star Spencer 73, Southeast 71
Roland 66, Douglass 64 (OT)
Victory Christian 67, Elk City 65 (OT)
Bishop McGuinness 58, Vinita 41
Class 4A Girls
Cache 44, Tecumseh 34
Fort Gibson 55, Purcell 31
Weatherford 35, Elgin 31
Metro Christian 56, Roland 47
Class 3A Boys
Sequoyah-Tahlequah 86, Linsday 72
Verdigris 90, Vian 68
Kingfisher 46, Adair 33
Millwood 56, Plainview 55
Class 3A Girls
Kingfisher 53, Heavener 51
Adair 55, Newcastle 31
Sequoyah-Tahlequah 67, Prague 39
Bethel 40, Verdigris 38
Class 2A Boys
Oktaha 53, Mangum 34
Oklahoma Christian 67, Crescent 37
Pawnee 71, Coalgate 63
Foyil 52, Washington 51
Class 2A Girls
Coalgate 34, Oklahoma Bible 30
Washington 60, Pocola 42
Amber-Pocasset 58, Oktaha 38
Preston 65, Walters 39
My March Madness: A Day in the Life of a Hoops Junkie
1:08 p.m.: Depart Tinker AFB for Bethany, site of the Class 2A tournament.
1:11 p.m.: First on-the-go fast food meal of the day. McDonald's.
1:57 p.m.: Arrive three minutes before Oktaha/Mangum tip-off. Where do I sit?
2:00 p.m.: State tournament under way at Southern Nazarene.
2:05 p.m.: Oktaha freshman Cale Elam looks beyond his years. A solid point guard prospect in the future.
2:34 p.m.: Halftime with Oktaha ahead, 35-24.
2:51 p.m.: Two-man officiating crews officially outdated. Mangum picks up their seventh team foul, officials miss it and ball is inbounded under the basket instead of 1-and-1.
3:13 p.m.: Game one in the books. A solid Oktaha team wins, 53-34.
3:31 p.m.: Question one of the day: Why are the Oklahoma Christian School students wearing all pink?
3:34 p.m.: 6-9 Blake Griffin against 5-10 Brant Gage to tip-off game two. Wonder who is going to win the jump ball?
3:45 p.m.: First dunk of the day. Griffin jumps from the left side of the basket and throws it down two-handed on the right side.
4:05 p.m.: Why can't Griffin just go straight to the NBA?
4:09 p.m.: Crescent fans screaming at the officials is becoming annoying.
4:10 p.m.: Griffin is human after all. He airballs a free-throw.
4:21 p.m.: Crescent coach receives technical. I would have been thrown out after some of these calls.
4:42 p.m.: Answer: Oklahoma Christian School students pick one solid color to wear every game. On Thursday, they decided on pink. On Friday, it will be blue.
4:56 p.m.: Crescent fans too much to handle. On goes the iPod.
5:26 p.m.: Game two in the books, OCS wins 67-37. Normally, I don't like talking to coaches after a close loss, let alone a 30-point loss. Actually looking forward to talking to Bart Watkins.
5:31 p.m.: Short conversation with Blake Griffin. While waiting, he poses for photos with children and takes it in stride.
5:33 p.m.: Blake Griffin is mature enough to make the jump to the NBA. He's a good kid.
5:44 p.m.: I wish I could print what Coach Watkins said. More to come on some of his points post-tournament. Coach Watkins is a solid coach and a good guy.
5:47 p.m.: Day in Bethany concludes. Where do I spend the evening session? I'm hungry.
6:00 p.m.: Meal two of the day, Carl's Jr.
6:01 p.m.: Thankfully I checked my burger. If I would have had BBQ sauce, it would have been ugly.
6:07 p.m.: Still not sure where I'm spending the next session. Meanwhile, semi-truck nearly runs into me on I-44.
6:09 p.m.: After surviving near-death experience, the best place to start my new life is in Moore with the Class 4A evening session.
6:30 p.m.: Arrive at Moore High School.
6:32 p.m.: Learned of two upsets in the first session with Roland beating Douglass in overtime and Star Spencer besting Southeast.
6:34 p.m.: My to my chagrin, Class 4A games televised by KSBI-TV.
7:00 p.m.: Tip-off in Moore between unbeaten Elk City and Victory Christian.
7:04 p.m.: TV timeouts have no place in high school basketball.
7:09 p.m.: Jeff Capel and OU got a steal with Cade Davis. He's 6'5", a great shooter, and can score in every way imaginable. Wow.
7:23 p.m.: Who is this Robert Crawford kid? Davis knows, after he has just been dunked on.
7:49 p.m.: Crawford has "D-I Status" written on his shoes. Without question, I would not argue that. Responded to coaching by saying, "Yes, sir."
8:16 p.m.: Two-handed rim rocker by Davis caps 9-0 Elk City run, including seven points in 35 seconds. This is getting good.
8:28 p.m.: Victory Christian a chance to win it, but misses runner at the buzzer. Overtime. After seeing 96 minutes of basketball already, what's four more minutes?
8:32 p.m.: Crawford jumps from 10-feet away and dunks it on an unsuspecting Matt Jones.
8:39 p.m.: Davis cans 24-footer to tie the game at 65.
8:41 p.m.: Corey Stewart makes clutch play. Hits floater off the backboard over Davis' out-stretched arms to put Victory ahead by two with 2.1 seconds remaining.
8:42 p.m.: Upset in the books, Victory Christian knocks out previously-unbeaten Elk City, 67-65. Top ten game of all-time.
8:50 p.m.: Question two of the day? What is the over-under on Daniel Orton's socks?
8:51 p.m.: Answer: 3 1/2.
8:57 p.m.: Fourth and final game under way at Moore, with Bishop McGuinness taking on Vinita.
9:09 p.m.: Junior Jeff Merritt hits fourth straight three, McGuinness up 15-5.
9:34 p.m.: Halftime, McGuinness ahead 29-19.
9:36 p.m.: Find out the girl sitting next to me in press row did look familiar. She is an assistant with the McGuinness girls basketball team.
9:39 p.m.: She plans on taking my old job at the MidCity Advocate as sports editor. Good for you, Janiece.
9:46 p.m.: Michael Sosanya opens second half with a dunk. Can't help but think if he was two inches taller at 6-8, if he would have to walk-on to play football at Oklahoma State? He's underrated.
9:54 p.m.: Daniel Orton, who blocked five first half shots but failed to score, rips down a thunderous jam for his first bucket of the game.
9:56 p.m.: We are getting delirious.
10:04 p.m.: The subs are in. Let's go, while we're young.
10:11 p.m.: Janiece's brother, sophomore guard Joel Cramner, enters game for injured Ryan Randolph to shoot free-throws with McGuinness up big. She's excited. He converts 1 of 2.
10:21 p.m.: Game over. Thankfully. I'm pretty sure McGuinness won.
10:27 p.m.: Tune into WWLS, the Sports Animal, to learn Putnam City North upset Jenks.
10:29 p.m.: Learned that Verdigris guard Rotnei Clarke scores 60. The legend grows.
10:48 p.m.: Stop at 7-11 to get more Diet Mountain Dew. It is my fourth one-liter of the day.
10:57 p.m.: Return to Tinker AFB to write Crescent story for the Guthrie News-Leader.
11:34 p.m.: Send story into sports editor, Jeff Harrison. Jeff, I hope it was good. I wasn't thinking clearly when I wrote it.
11:39 p.m.: Curiosity takes me to Omaha.com to find out Nebraska tournament scores.
11:58 p.m.: Start writing MaxPreps.com re-cap.
Scott Hansen: oksportswriter@yahoo.com