By Scott Hansen
MaxPreps.com
Unbeaten Elk City, Davis Fall to Victory Christian in Overtime
Elk City's Cade Davis might not have been the only Division I talent on the Moore High School floor. Victory Christian's Robert Crawford has "Division I status" written on his shoes. In overtime, Crawford's one-handed dunk put the Conquerors in front, and may have put the 6-5 junior on the map at the same time.
Despite 37 points and 11 rebounds from the Oklahoma-bound Davis, Crawford and Victory Christian stole the show in one of the biggest upsets of the day with a 67-65 overtime victory in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament.
Crawford scored 13 of his 19 points in the first half, and also grabbed 13 rebounds in the victory. The high-flying junior is one of the reasons why Elk City's stay at the state tournament is a short one, despite a fantastic season.
"The sky is the limit for Robert," said Victory Christian coach Ryan Wakley. "He turned 16 last August. Although he is still young, he is getting better as a player and as a person. I think he's best years of basketball might be after his high school career is over."
The combination of Davis and senior guard Matt Jones nearly did enough to pull out an improbable victory. Trailing 33-27 at halftime, Davis and Jones spearheaded the comeback with a little help of their teammates.
Trailing by six heading into the fourth quarter, Davis scored the first deuce of the quarter with a finger roll after going behind his back. Senior Kolby Kilhoffer canned a three-point basket from the left corner to continue the spurt.
Davis followed with four straight points in quick fashion, capped off by a two-handed dunk to give the Elks a 44-41 lead. Elk City scored seven points in 35 seconds to deliver a potential haymaker to Victory Christian as part of a 9-0 run.
With the momentum shifting in the favor of the unbeaten Elks, the Conquerers turned to a player off the bench to ignite the comeback. Junior guard T.J. Petit scored nine points over the next three minutes, while Jones responded with six of his own. Petit's three with 1:07 remaining tied the score at 56.
Victory Christian had a chance to win it in regulation, but Julian Peters missed a runner at the buzzer to provide the raukus crowd of 3,500 an extra four minutes of basketball.
After Crawford's rim-rattler, Jones responded with the final two of his 14 points. Kilhoffer hit another clutch trifecta to give Elk City a 62-60 lead before Petit continued his hot-shooting by answering with a three of his own to put Victory Christian back in front.
After Davis pinned a Petit shot attempt against the backboard, the ball kindly dropped to Petit, who converted an uncontested lay-up to give Victory Christian a three-point lead. Davis responded with a 24-foot three to tie the score once again at 65 with 26.8 second remaining.
With the game in the balance and potentially the season, Victory Christian turned to senior Corey Stewart. Stewart drove the lane and launched a floater high off the backboard over the outstretched arms of Davis. Stewart's attempt fell through the net, giving Victory Christian a 67-65 lead with 2.1 seconds remaining.
Elk City's attempt at even more dramatics failed as Davis was unable to get off a 60-foot desperation attempt, and the epic encounter went in favor of Victory Christian.
Petit scored 14 of his 19 points after halftime. According to Wakley, Petit's contributions were huge.
"Petit is a young man who is growing all the time, and he had a whale of a game. This is what it's all about. Players performing at that level in such a huge occasion," said Wakley.
Elk City finishes the season with a 24-1 record, while Victory Christian moves on to the semifinals where they will face defending Class 4A champion Bishop McGuinness.
Victory Christian 67, Elk City 65
Victory Christian (21-6): Crawford 19, Stewart 13, White 6, Houston 10, Petit 19.
Elk City (24-1): Jones 14, Kilhoffer 9, Davis 37, Perkins 2, Ezell 3.
McGuinness Stings Hornets to Advance
Junior guard Jeff Merritt hit four straight three-pointers and scored 12 of Bishop McGuinness' first 15 points as the Fighting Irish successfully embarked on their defense of the Class 4A title with a 58-41 victory over Vinita.
With Merritt's torrid start, the Fighting Irish raced out to a 15-8 lead after the first quarter. Vinita used hot shooting of their own to keep pace with McGuinness.
The Hornets hit 5 of 8 from three-point range in the first half. Rashard Phillips scored eight of his game-high 15 points in the first half including six from behind the three-point arc, while Adam Ramsey hit two three's of his own.
The first points of the second half came from a Michael Sosanya dunk, which started a 10-2 run that Bishop McGuiness would not relinquish. Merritt scored 20 points to lead McGuinness, while Sosanya added 12. 6-9 sophomore Daniel Orton had seven rebounds and six blocked shots in the victory.
McGuinness' victory sets up an enticing encounter against Victory Christian at 4:30 p.m. at State Fair Arena. Roland and OKC Star Spencer both pulled huge upsets in the afternoon session of Class 4A, setting up their semifinal showdown at 10:30 a.m.
Bishop McGuiness 58, Vinita 41
Bishop McGuinness (22-5): Merritt 20, Orton 4, Sosanya 12, Fuller 5, Randolph 2, Ikard 2, Williamson 7, Holmboe 1, Trosper 4, Cranmer 1.
Vinita (13-13): L. Williams 2, Willis 6, Phillips 15, Lippe 7, Ramsey 6, Grimm 2, Smiley 3.
OCS Too Much for Crescent
For the second-consecutive year, Crescent's stay in the state tournament was a short one thanks to Oklahoma Christian after the Tigers fell, 67-37, at the Sawyer Center at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany.
With Oklahoma signee Blake Griffin controlling the paint for OCS, the Saints got off to an 18-0 lead early on and never looked back. Griffin took a back seat in the scoring department to senior Tucker Phillips and junior guard George Overbey, who combined for nine points in the early onslaught.
Crescent started showing signs of life as the opening stanza wore on, with none other than junior guard Prince Shaw leading the charge. After junior Tanner Lewis broke an 0 for 11 shooting slump to open the game with a bucket, Shaw followed with a three. Another Shaw trifecta opened the second quarter to cap an 8-0 run.
With OCS going 6-9 with Griffin, 6-7 with Tulsa football signee Wilson Holloway, and 6-5 with Phillips - compared to Crescent's tallest starter being 6-3 senior Jake Wessen - the Saints did not need any help. With 7:21 remaining in the second quarter, the Saints were called for their first team foul. At the time, Crescent had been whistled for seven.
"We battled hard all night despite some of the foul calls. We didn't start out very well, and it showed. Overall, it was a good season. I just hope if we get back next year, we can draw somebody other than OCS in the first round," said Watkins.
Shaw continued to do his best to ignite the Crescent offense. A four-point play and another bucket kept the Tigers within 19 points at halftime, as they trailed 35-16 behind Shaw's 12 points.
OCS picked up where they left off in the third quarter. A Griffin alley-oop dunk put an exclamation point on a 6-0 run to start the second half as the Saints went on to the victory, which moved them to 25-3 on the season.
Griffin and Overbey tied for a team-high 21 points in the victory. Griffin added 15 rebounds, six blocked shots, and five assists. In the game, OCS hit just 18 of 41 from the charity stripe.
Crescent did all they could do with Griffin inside. 5-10 senior Brett Gage was given the task of trying to slow down Griffin. The result was two intentional foul calls and on a few occasions, Griffin fell hard to the floor when going up for dunks.
"I'm used to that. It's been happening all year long. I just try to play through it," said Griffin. "We might have been a little nervous early on. We missed a lot of free-throws early. Other than that, I think we are clicking at the right time."
Shaw, a junior, finished with a game-high 22 points including five three-point baskets. Lewis paced Crescent with 11, as they finished the season with a 16-11 record.
Oklahoma Christian 67, Crescent 37
Crescent (16-11): Lewis 11, Hunt 2, Shaw 22, Kessen 2.
OCS (25-3): Phillips 9, Overbey 21, Johnson 1, Holloway 8, Griffin 21, Levy 3.
Elam Cousins See Oktaha Through
Weston and Cale Elam combined for 21 points in a balanced scoring attack, as Oktaha kicked off the Class 2A tournament with a comfortable 53-34 victory over Mangum at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany.
Cale Elam, a freshman guard, ignited Oktaha early. Cale Elam hit a three-point basket with 5:02 remaining in the opening stanza to give Oktaha an early 9-2 in the battle of the Tigers.
In the first half, Cale Elam had seven points and six assists as Oktaha coasted to a 35-24 halftime lead. Weston Elam had 10 first half points for Oktaha.
In the second half, Oktaha slowed down its torrid first half pace to ensure survival into Friday's semifinal game against Pawnee and junior Keiton Page. Weston Page was the only Oktaha player in double-figures, as he tallied 12 points.
Mangum had an off shooting night, connecting on just 1 of 18 from behind the three-point arc. Mangum finishes the campaign with a 20-7 record and were led by John Merritt's 14 points.
Oktaha 53, Mangum 34
Mangum (20-7): Pineda 2, Epperson 6, Clayton 1, Pitts 9, Merritt 14, Cecil 2.
Oktaha (22-5): C. Elam 9, Watson 2, Vogt 6, Ellison 7, W. Elam 12, Pevenhouse 4, Allen 6, Hyslope 5, Locust 2.
