Ada, Byng boys fall on final day

Jan. 9—The Ada High School boys basketball team got caught in a sandstorm Saturday night in the finals of the 2024 East Central Oklahoma Classic.

The Cougars never got into a rhythm offensively in a 51-35 loss to Class 6A Sand Springs in the boys' title game.

The Sandites improved to 7-3 on the year with the championship win, while Ada — ranked No. 7 in Class 4A — fell to 9-2.

"Sand Springs is a really good basketball team. They have great size and really good outside shooters, so we knew we would have to play a complete game," Ada boys coach Kyle Caufield told The Ada News. "Sand Springs did a good job of using their inside presence and size and they made open shots."

Ada finished an uncharacteristic 1-of-17 from 3-point land.

"I felt like we did a good job creating and getting open looks from the outside, however, we did not shoot it well. We had opportunities and couldn't capitalize and respond to their runs," Caufield said. "We flat out just didn't shoot the ball well from the outside. Overall, it was a good tournament for us to come away with two wins and one against Ardmore. We knew this would be a tough tournament and every game could go one way or the other."

Ada is now off until trekking to Seminole Friday night and heading to Hugo on Saturday. Next week, the Cougars are set to compete in the rugged John Nobles Invitational Tournament in Moore.

"We have another tough test in the next two weeks. During that stretch, we will be at the John Nobles tournament with (Carl Albert, Ardmore, Westmore, Putnam City, Moore, Destiny Christian, and Millwood) and then follow that with Idabel (No. 3 in Class 3A). So we have a lot of highly competitive games coming up to help prepare us for the playoffs."

Sand Springs 51, Ada 35

The Cougars got off to a good start, racing to an 11-3 lead. But Sand Springs followed that AHS spurt with an 11-0 run capped by a 3-pointer from Deke Thompson to open the second quarter that put the visitors on top 14-11.

Ada never led again.

Playmaker Devon MacCollister scored on a drive to the basket late in the second period to get Ada within 24-21. The Sandites ended the first half with a basket inside by post player Kason Evans and a fast-break score from Kooper Kelley to grab a 28-21 lead at the break.

Ada's Carter Colombe scored inside after a nice pass from Keith Cook for the first two points of the third period to get the Cougars within 28-23, but Sand Springs answered again, this time with a 9-2 spurt that extended its lead to 37-25 at the 3:50 mark of the third frame.

Ada trailed 42-27 heading into the fourth quarter and never got closer than 13 the rest of the way.

MacCollister — who was named to the ECOC all-tournament team — led the cool Ada offense with 12 points and Colombe followed with nine points to go with eight rebounds. Cook was next with six points.

Thompson — named the ECOC Most Valuable Player — hit a trio of 3-pointers and scored a game-best 16 points to pace the Sandites. He also had 11 rebounds and a pair of steals.

Evans was right behind with 15 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. He was also an all-tournament selection. Kelley also hit double figures with 10.

Blake Johnson was the Sandites' other all-tournament pick and Deante Lindsay was another Ada selection.

Byng can't hold off OKC Storm

The Byng High School boys basketball team couldn't make an 11-point second-half lead stand up in a disappointing 46-42 loss to the OKC Storm Saturday afternoon in the consolation finals of the East Central Oklahoma Classic.

It won't get any easier for the Pirates, who dropped to 7-5 on the year. Byng travels to Class 4A No. 8 Madill tonight.

"We're playing great defense, we just can't get any consistency on the offensive end," said Byng head coach Jared Gambrel. "But we'll continue to work hard and hopefully get it figured out."

OKC Storm 46, Byng 43

After Byng's Camby Poorbuffalo nailed a 3-pointer at the 5:18 mark of the third period, the Pirates led 33-22. However, the Storm outscored Byng 24-9 the rest of the way.

The Pirates led 35-28 after Malachi Schilreff scored in the paint after a nice pass from Gary Raney late in the third quarter.

However, Corbin Hamilton sank a 3-pointer and Parker Mills scored a rebound basket to get the Storm within 35-33 heading into the fourth quarter.

Byng 6-7 post player Bo Boatwright scored on a putback with 3:11 left in the game to put the Pirates ahead 40-38 and Schilreff hit a layup on a tough drive to the basket with 2:24 remaining that tied the score at 42-all.

Byng had the ball with less than a minute to play with the chance to tie or take the lead, but Mills got a steal, was fouled, and sank two free throws with 28.9 seconds on the clock to put the OKC club on top for good at 44-42. Schilreff, who led Byng with 16 points, fouled out on the play.

The Pirates committed their 18th turnover of the game following a timeout with only 9.6 ticks left and Ayomide Adenle-Pinder sealed the outcome by hitting two free shots with 3.6 remaining.

No one else reached double-figure scoring for Byng, but Boatwright finished with eight points, 12 rebounds, and three blocked shots. Gary Raney chipped in seven points and six rebounds and hit 5-of-8 free throws for the locals.

Hamilton and Crayton Harland both scored 12 points apiece to lead the Storm offense. Harland sank 4-of-7 3-point attempts.

Byng won the battle of the board 39-23.

The Storm hit 13-of-17 free throws compared to a 6-of-11 showing for Byng.

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Following are the members of the 2024 East Central OK Classic Boys All-Tournament team:

Taylan Booker-Brown Ardmore

Ayomide Adenle-Pinder OKC Storm

KJ Nichols Tulsa McLain

Malachi Schilreff Byng

Quincy Shelton Hugo

Brandon Avedon Bishop Kelley

Devon MacColliste Ada

Deante Lindsay Ada

Blake Johnson Sand Springs

Kason Evans Sand Springs

Deke Thompson (MVP) Sand Springs