AREA HOOPS: Dewey, WCS, copan teams seize tourney wins
Wesleyan Christian School’s Kyle Kelley (3) steals the ball during an earlier season game. The Mustangs played in the Morrison tournament over the weekend.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
BY MIKE TUPA
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Following is a look at area high school basketball action during the previous few days.
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BOYS: Silo 49, Wesleyan Christian 39
This one hurt.
WCS surged into this game — the opening round of the Morrison tourney — with a 9-0 record and flirting with a perfect regular season.
But Silo rallied when it counted.
“This game was a little frustrating,” said WCS Mustangs head coach Steven Cooks. “We led until four minutes left until the end. … We just didn’t play down the stretch.”
The whole second half was a black hole on three-point shots for the Mustangs, who made just 2-of-21.
WCS had led by eight at half and up six or seven points going into the fourth, Cooks said.
Trey White and Owen Hay drilled 18 and 13 points, respectively, for WCS. Usually when WCS has at least three players in, or near, double-digits it has a good chance to win, Cooks added.
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BOYS: Wesleyan Christian 62, Pawnee 34
After ending its bid for a perfect season the game before against Silo, the WCS Mustangs (10-1) struck back to stick Pawnee with a big-time defeat. The teams met in the boys consolation semifinals of the Morrison tourney.
“It was a good one,” WCS head coach Steven Cooks said. “This was probably one of the more complete games we’ve played. We struggled a little early on, but overall we played pretty well.”
Trey White pumped in 20 points to lead the WCS attack, followed by Owen Hay and Kyle Kelley with 12 points apiece.
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Wesleyan Christian School’s Lydia Foster (3) drives the ball up the court during an earlier season game. The Lady Mustangs play at the Morrison tournament on Monday (Jan. 13).
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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GIRLS: Morrison 40, Wesleyan Christian 35
Wesleyan Christian’s Lydia Foster proved too tough for Morrison to handle, but the host team still found a way to squeeze out a 40-35 overtime win in the opening round Thursday (Jan. 9) of the Morrison tourney.
Foster piled in 21 points in the loss that resulted in WCS’ first back-to-back defeats of the season.
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GIRLS: Wesleyan Christian 53, Luther 21
After dropping the overtime heartbreaker Thursday, the WCS Lady Mustangs struck back with withering resolve to boot Luther in the consolation semifinals Saturday (Jan. 11) at the Morrison tourney.
Kori White wore out the nets with 30 points to lead WCS, followed by Lydia Foster with 13.
“Lydia Foster was on fire to begin the game,” said WCS head coach Kendall Huntington. “She got us the big lead to start. She was unstoppable in the paint.”
When Luther collapsed its defense to try to control Foster, White took over, Huntington said.
“We played really well,” she continued. “We did a good job rebounding, being aggressive.”
WCS is scheduled to return Monday (Jan. 12) to Morrison to play for the girls consolation championship.
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Dewey High School’s Zach Renfroe (1) drives to the basket during an earlier season game. The Bulldoggers play Monday (Jan. 13) at the Oologah tournament.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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BOYS: Dewey 66, Salina 36
Balance.
That was the operative word Saturday (Jan. 11) for the Dewey Bulldoggers at the Oologah tournament who snapped a two-game losing streak and tied their highest scoring output of the season.
Austin Eastman dialed in 13 points, followed by Kooper Crawford and Karson Johnson with nine apiece to lead Dewey. Zach Renfroe and Tra Hicks added nine apiece and Lathe Griggs scored seven.
Dewey took control from the opening tip.
“We came out hot,” said Dewey head coach Lance Knight. “We scored 23 in the first quarter. We shot the ball well and our defense was really good. … We really forced a lot of turnovers.”
Rounding out Dewey’s scoring were Will Lawrence and Marshall McDaniel with four and two points, respectively.
This was a bounce-back triumph for Dewey.
The Doggers (4-5) had dropped their previous two decisions, including a 53-46 loss late last week at the hands of Vinita.
“Vinita is a good team. … They always have a really good group,” said Knight. “We couldn’t get going offensively. I thought our defense played really good. We had a bad spurt in the fourth quarter for four minutes. … We just ran out of time. We had our opportunities.”
Dewey plays at 2:30 p.m. Monday (Jan. 13) in the Oologah tourney, while the Lady Doggers play at 4 p.m.
(We'll have information on the Lady Doggers play in a later article.)
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Copan High School’s Shooter Brewington (2) takes a shot during an earlier season game. The Hornets play for the Cherokee tournament consolation title on Monday (Jan. 13).
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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BOYS: Copan 64, Alva jayvee 26
Despite going to battle with one of its top warriors sidelined, the Copan Hornets nearly knocked off the host team at the Cherokee tourney.
Copan bounced back Saturday — led by Shooter Brewington’s 31 points — to overwhelm the Alva junior varsity by 38 points.
“As a team I thought we played a lot better and a lot cleaner,” said Copan head coach Kolton Stacy, comparing it to the loss two days earlier to Cherokee. “Plus, we’ve been battling a bit of stomach bug.”
Kane Foreman — who didn’t play against Cherokee — erupted for 12 points (four three-pointers) against the Alva team.
“He was playing motivated,” said Stacy. “He’s super efficient. He gives us a nice presence inside. … He’s just really solid for us.”
Brewington, meanwhile, is heating up offensively.
He’s averaged 23.5 points the last three games.
In evaluating Brewington, Foreman and other Hornets, Stacy observed that: “It’s kind of awesome to watch how these kids have grown from freshmen to juniors.”
Copan will return Monday (Jan. 13) to Cherokee to play for the consolation title.
In the first round, Cherokee edged Copan, 46-42.
(We'll have information on the Lady Hornets play in a later article.)