By Robert Medley
Managing Editor
The Okarche Warriors faced Class B’s 10th-ranked Leedey in the finals of the inaugural South Canadian Classic in Leedey Saturday night.
Leedey’s record stood at 8-2 and Okarche 5-1 going into the game Saturday night.
Okarche’s Wyatt Pinkerton and Easton Roby were named to the all-tournament team.
The tournament final
Okarche fell behind 7-0 and went 0-4 from the field including two missed three-pointers in the first two minutes of the game. Hunter Mueggenborg finally got a jumper to fall to get on the board. The Warriors picked up the pace and added the backcourt pressure to tie the game at 10-10 on a strong move to the hoop from Easton Roby. Okarche’s outside shooting stayed on the cold side the entire first quarter, and Leedey pulled back ahead by seven, 19-12.
Late in the second quarter Wyatt Pinkerton hit Okarche’s first three-pointer to cut the Leedey lead to four points, 32-28. The first half ended in Leedey’s favor 34-28.
The Warriors mounted their comeback in the second half and took a 39-36 lead with five minutes to go in the third quarter. An offensive rebound and putback by Caden Schieber extended the lead to 41-36. The third quarter ended with Okarche holding on to a four-point lead 49-45.
Leedey tied the game with 5:45 to go in the third quarter, 49-49 on free throws after Hunter Mueggenborg picked up his fifth foul.
Easton Roby put the Warriors up 55-53 on a strong move in the paint. Leedey regained the lead on a long trey.
The final score was Leedey 61, Okarche 55.
Read more in the Okarche Warrior print edition.
Okarche wins opening round and winner’s bracket game of tournament
After downing Arapaho-Butler in the first round Thursday, the Okarche Warriors basketball team beat the Hammon Warriors by 35 points in the South Canadian Classic tournament at Leedey Friday.
The score ended Okarche Warriors 74 and the Hammon Warriors 39.
Okarche boys advanced to the final game at 6:30 p.m. Saturday against the tournament host team, 10th-ranked Leedey. The girls fell to Leedey Saturday in the third-place game after falling to Red Oak Friday night.
For the boys, Okarche’s guards poured in the points. Sophomore guard Jett Mueggenborg dished in 20 points. Senior Wyatt Pinkerton had 16 points and junior guard Hunter Mueggenborg added 12.
Wyatt Pinkerton had a hot hand and hit a three-pointer from the top of the key to give Okarche a four-point lead three minutes into the game, 7-3. Hunter Mueggenborg drained another trey to extend the lead to 12-6 with four minutes left in the first quarter, then built a 23-10 lead over the next four minutes. It was 36-13 with four minutes left in the second quarter as the Warriors pulled away. The first half ended Okarche 41 to Hammon’s 15.
Easton Roby dropped another bomb to open the third quarter scoring, adding three points for a 44 to 15 lead.
The starting five for Okarche were still in the game as they lead 71-36. Substitutes began to come into the game with about 3:45 remaining.
Lady Warriors shooting goes cold against Red Oak
The Lady Warriors came from behind to take the lead over fourth-ranked Red Oak in the first half of their second round in the tournament.
Cold shooting in the second half was their demise as Okarche fell to Red Oak 65-49.
The girls fell behind 5-0 to Red Oak early, and it took three-pointers from Katy Creswell to keep pace in the game. But the girls trailed by double digits at the end of the first quarter, 11-22.
Katie Parham helped pull the Lady Warriors to within two points with a trey in the second quarter before Red Oak answered to pull ahead 29-24.
A steal and layup by Scout Payne cut the Red Oak lead to just one point.
Katie Parham scored to give Okarche the lead 33-31 at the end of the half.
The Lady Warriors were as cold to start the second half as they were at the beginning, and Red Oak went on a 7-0 run to open up another five-point lead, 38-33 in the third quarter.
Madison Nance was effective in the paint as the Lady Warriors shooting cooled from the field. But Red Oak pulled ahead by ten points with a three-point play and Okarche foul.
Katie Parham hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to seven. But Red Oak would pull ahead by 14, 58-44, at the end of three quarters.
The deficit worsened in the fourth quarter for Okarche, and they fell behind 61-44. The game ended 64-49.
The Okarche girls are ranked #5 and the boys ranked #4 in Class A basketball by the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Athletic Association.
The girls beat Balko 49-32 Thursday.
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