Blake Colston
Sports Editor
Aaron West likes what he’s seeing right now.
His Okarche team has ratcheted up its defense since the Thanksgiving break and the results are apparent
The Warriors (8-3) have won nine of 10 and soared to No. 15 in the Class A rankings. Okarche has held seven of 10 opponents under 50 points. The only teams that scored more totaled 51, 52 and 54, respectively.
“We’re playing really good defense and our pressure is bothering people,” West said. “At the end of the day, I like for our guys to shoot the ball and play free, but you have to play defense and rebound to win the big ones.”
Okarche has forced more than 20 turnovers multiple times in the last nine games and has turned those takeaways into points, but not as many as West would like.
“We have to do a better job of capitalizing on them,” he said.
On offense, Okarche is shooting the ball well and has balanced scoring. The Warriors have six players averaging 10 or more points.
“It’s kind of pick your poison of who you want to stop because anyone can have a big game on a given night,” West said.
Okarche will play at Three Rivers Conference rival Watonga Friday.
“It doesn’t get any easier,” West said.
Warriors win two of three at Garber Tournament
The Warriors lost to Class 3A Newkirk, 52-47 on Friday. Okarche led by three with two minutes to play, but couldn’t hold the lead.
“(Newkirk) has one of their best teams in a while. They were bigger and stronger across the board which bothered us,” West said.
P.K. Harris put in 15 points to lead OHS.
On Saturday, Okarche broke open a tight game against Tonkawa with a 26-5 third-quarter run and won 76-50.
“We didn’t cover well in the first half. We made some adjustments to our press at halftime and that really bothered them,” West said.
Trenton Neiderer came off the bench to sink 7 of 14 3-pointers and totaled 21 points. Wyatt Pinkerton made 3 of 4 from the beyond the arc and totaled 11 points. Hunter Mueggenborg scored 18 points and dished out five assists.
The Warriors opened the tournament with a lopsided win over Olive, 81-11. Harris led all scorers with 13 points.
