DYNAMIC DEBUT: DeSalme-led BHS Bruins pounce past Ponca City in season opener
Former Bartlesville High School Bruin Tommy DeSalme makes his debut as boys head basketball coach Friday (Nov. 22) against Ponca City. The Bruins defeated Ponca City, 49-40 in their home opener.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
Bartlesville Area Sports Report
Just call it a dynamic debut for Tommy DeSalme.
Okay, so Bartlesville High School’s 49-40 win against the Ponca City Wildcats wasn’t a candidate for the HPW Hall of Pretty Wins.
Okay, so the freshman-laced Bruins watched a 22-point lead cut down to nine.
Point is, the Bruins — who played 13 guys, including several ninth graders — displayed a synergy, sync, and symbiotic synapse that forged a satisfying synopsis of hard-fought boys basketball victory.
And also an electric introduction of the DeSalme era — an eagerly-anticipated event for Bruin basketball fans. Especially those that are well-grounded in the program’s history.
DeSalme is the first former Bruin player to become the team's head coach. Not only that, but he represents the mystique, magic and toughness of Bartlesville’s golden era when it won three state titles (he was on two of those teams) in four years in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Last spring, he resigned from a successful head men’s college basketball coaching position in order to return home and try to revive a Bruin program that had won less than 40 percent of its games the last 12 seasons.
That’s what made Friday’s (Nov. 22) win — with a performance more impressive than the nine-point final margin suggested — so significant.
Eight different players contributed to the balanced scoring total, with Hudson Eads tallying a team-high nine points, followed by Nash Zervas and Hunter Holmes leading the way.
Bartlesville High School's lone senior Nash Zervas (3) goes up for a rebound during action against Ponca City on Nov. 22, 2024. The Bruins defeated Ponca City, 49-40 in their home opener.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
___________
Dennis Duncan, Michael Kent and Daeton Stevens — the later two freshmen just one week removed from the football field — each contributed six points to help Bartlesville keep a respectable difference ahead in the second half.
Jordan Turner and Brycen Gutierrez also contributed points.
Gutierrez — also a freshman — dropped in a cord-skinning three-pointer in the second quarter to help Bartlesville pull slowly away from the Wildcats.
But it was Bartlesville’s relentless, fiery-eye defense that rocked and rolled Ponca City’s world like a nonstop earthquake.
Ponca City scored only seven points the first two quarters and they netted only 17 through three quarters.
Bruin turnovers in the fourth quarter allowed Ponca City to make a late run.
“Defensively, we gave them too many easy points,” said DeSalme, adding had the Bruins played sharper late, they might have held Ponca City to less than 30.
“We kind of went back to our old habits in the fourth quarter,” he added. “We’ve got to get more guys willing to do those things (absorb the hard bodily contact defensively). We’ve got to be tough with the ball and tough with defense or we’re not going to get there.”
Observing the big picture, however, DeSalme felt gratified by a season-opening triumph.
“I’m glad we won,” he said. “This is a program that hasn’t won a lot the last few years. It was important we won. … I thought we played really well for three quarters.”
While the Bruins defense shut down Ponca City like a cattle drive through a desert, the Bruins offense also struggled early in filling the nets — even though they led nearly wire to wire.
The Wildcats snuck out to a 2-0 to open the scoring, but Nash rang up two points to tie the score, 2-2, followed moments later by a steal and layup by Eads. Bartlesville led the rest of the way.
Duncan’s two-free throws bump the Bruins to an 8-3 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Bartlesville added only seven more points in the second stanza, including Gutierrez’ trey and a deuce by Holmes.
When halftime arrived, Bartlesville led the defensive battle, 15-7.
But Bartlesville surged to a 7-2 run to open the third quarter and open up a 13-point lead, 22-9. Eads’ three-pointer and a putback by Zervas were key shots during that stretch.
The Bruins continued to widen the gap. Ken’s two-pointer made it a 15-point lead, 26-11. Stevens notched his first varsity basket during the next couple of minutes.
Bartlesville extended the advantage to 21 points, 34-13, set up by Kent’s steal and bucket.
By the end of the third quarter, Bartlesville led by 20, 37-17.
In the fourth quarter, however, Ponca City made a spirited scoring splurge, aided by Bruin miscues and fast break buckets.
The determined Bruins never let them get closer than nine points, producing buckets to disrupt their comeback.
Turner, Zervas and Stevens each buried clutch buckets after the Wildcats had gotten within 11 or 10 points.
Finally they crawled back to within nine, 43-34, but Zervas answered with two free throws with a little more than a minute left.
Turner and Kent also flushed free throws in the final minute to stand tough and frustrate the Wildcats’ bid for a miracle revival.
“I’m real proud of the freshmen,” DeSalme said, who he said looked like veterans at times. “I’m excited about next week and keep going forward.”
In addition to Kent and Stevens, fellow ninth-grade gridder E.J. Belisle sparkled.
“He really surprised me,” DeSalme said.
DeSalme is happy with the team’s progress since early October, but added the process of progress is ongoing.
Meanwhile, he felt heartened by the community support at the opener.
“We had a great crowd,” DeSalme said. “Hopefully it will continue to get bigger and we get better.”
__________
BARTLESVILLE’S LAST 10 SEASON OPENERS
2015: L (at Muskogee, 40-52)
2016: W (host Sand Springs, 53-39)
2017: L (at Bishop Kelley, 62-79)
2018: L (host Owasso, 58-65)
2019: L (at Tulsa Union, 44-75)
2020: L (at Jenks, 47-69)
2021: W (at Texas Hoopfest, Lake Highlands, 73-66)
2022: L (at Texas Hoopfest, South Oak Cliff, 39-53)
2023: L (host Tulsa Union, 32-67)
2024: W (host Ponca City, 49-40).
Bartlesville High School's Dennis Duncan (12) goes up for a shot during action against Ponca City on Nov. 22, 2024. The Bruins defeated Ponca City, 49-40, in their home opener.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports