WEEKEND HOOPS REPORT: BHS falls by 2; Dewey, Copan broom foes
Bartlesville High’s boys basketball squad came so close to clawing out a victory Saturday night on Missouri soil.
The Bruins played brilliantly the last few minutes to shrink a 10-point deficit to just two points against Fr. Tolton Catholic High School, 58-56, by the final buzzer.
But, the Bruins (1-3) had an opportunity to win it with a three-point shot in the final two seconds. The rim rejected the attempt and Tolton hung on by a heartbeat.
Next up, Bartlesville plays next week in the 57th Annual Tournament of Champions, at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Dec. 28-30.
General admission tickets are $6, according to the ticketmaster website.
That will be Bartlesville’s next action in what has been a difficult December to gain traction.
Bartlesville will have played its first four games in a stretch of 32 days — or an average of one game every eight days — by the time it tips off in the first round of the TOC.
But, starting with the TOC, Bartlesville will play 10 games during a 20-day period.
The rust showed a bit in Saturday’s game, which was part of the Norm Stewart Classic in Columbia, Mo.
The score was knotted after one quarter, 12-12, and Tolton moved ahead in the second quarter.
Tolton led by 10 late in the fourth, but Bartlesville made a tremendous comeback.
With 35 seconds left, David Castillo (30 points) dialed in a three-pointer to make it a three-point game, 52-49, in favor of Tolton.
Tolton then got a deuce-and-one to push the lead back to six, 55-49.
However, Aadhi Ayyappan drilled a trey for the Bruins to trim the margin down to three, 55-52, with 24 ticks left.
The Bruins had to foul the rest of the way and Tolton made three of four three throws to hang on.
Castillo made a lay-up-and-one to slice the gap to two points, 57-55, with 11 seconds left.
Tolton hit 1of-2 free throws to make it a three-point game, 58-55, with 6.2 seconds left.
Instead of letting a few seconds burn off the block, Tolton fouled Castillo, on the inbounds pass, with 4.2 seconds left.
That amount of time opened the door for the Bruins for last one final opportunity.
Castillo swished the first charity toss to reduce the advantage back to two, 58-56. But, he deliberately missed the second free throw to give Bartlesville a chance for a rebound and put back. In the scramble for the rebound, Tolton lost the ball out of bounds at the 2.7-second mark.
The Bruins inbounded the ball and Castillo launched a long shot — but fate didn’t answer his prayer and the buzzer sounded to end the game.
Castillo has now scored 30-or-more points in three-plus games and is averaging more than 31 points per game.
This was Bartlesville’s second-best defensive showing, holding Tolton to less than 60 points (South Oak Cliff from Texas scored only 52 on the Bruins.)
Clent Stewart is in his ninth season as the Bruins’ head coach. He will be taking the team to its first TOC appearance in about 17 seasons.
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BOYS: DEWEY 55, CANEY VALLEY (Kan.) 51
While their early schedule has been a test of character, the Dewey Bulldoggers rose above the occasion Friday to record a high-quality win.
Colby Miller and Jeremiah Highsmith paced Dewey’s attack with 22 and 15 points, respectively.
But, Dewey required several minutes to rev up after the opening tip-off.
“I think maybe we were a little too confident,” said veteran Dewey head coach Lance Knight. “We didn’t start out good. We played kind of flat. They were bouncing around a little quicker than us.”
In fact, the CV Bullpups pounced out to a double-digit lead, 20-9.
“We had a bunch of open shots early and missed them,” Knight said. “But, we just kept battling. We pulled within three or four by halftime.”
During intermission, Knight and his coaches force-fed their players a little Dutch uncle pie.
Dewey players plowed into the second half with a renewed sense of fire.
“They weren’t giving up either,” Knight said. “We found a way at the end.”
Rounding out Dewey’s scorers were Jace Williams and Ryder Muninger with six points each, Zaiden Masters with four and Zane Griggs with two.
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BOYS: WCS 59, FOYIL 32
The Mustangs lengthened their unbeaten start to 7-0 — winning by double-digit margins in all seven games.
WCS has won 20-straight regular season games dating back to last season.
The Mustangs are winning this year with multiple guys getting a hot hand.
In this victory, Cooper Holley canned 16 points, followed by Brady Rucker with 1 and Ty Cloud with eight.
Any one of five or six players are very capable of pumping in double-digit points or leading the team in scoring.
"It's been really good, as far as scouting stuff goes," WCS head coach Steven Cooks said.
When another team is watching film on the Mustangs they witness more than one player they have to key on, he explained.
Cooks also praised his team's defensive work in this victory.
"We struggled on the offensive end a little bit the first half, but our defense kept the lead what it was until we were able to increase the lead," Cooks added.
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GIRLS: DEWEY 42, CANEY VALLEY (Kan.) 36
“We finally cut down on our turnover issues,” said new Dewey head coach Michael Sanders, who recorded his first career victory. “We finally had everyone back. We played really good defense and rebounded well.”
Leigha Sauret poured in 21 points to top Dewey’s points’ list, followed by C.J. Jones with 11, Mattie Lorenz with six and Maci Rogers with three.
“A lot of things we did don’t really show up on the stat line — hustle and getting on the floor after loose balls,” said Sanders. “We took a big step in the right direction. … The girls were super excited.”
The defense held Caney Valley’s tallest impact player to four points, Sanders said.
He lauded several girls for their defensive work, including Cheyenne Chinn and Chanley Herren, among others.
Next up, Dewey (1-4) will play Jan. 3 against Pawhuska.
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GIRLS: COPAN 51, BLUEJACKET 37
Copan led at the end of every quarter, building its lead to double-digits by the end of the third period, 42-26.
Kylee Cobb and Kamryn Van both scored 14 points to spearhead Copan’s attack. Skyler Odum tallied nine points, followed by Zoey Secondine with seven, Faith Weatherspoon with four and Jaden Purdum with three.
Odum and Secondine each grabbed nine rebounds, while Cobb accumulated six steals.
In previous games, Copan has limited its defensive pressure to its low number of athletes.
But, Bryan decided to extend the defense to full-court, resulting in several Bluejacket turnovers.
“We shot free throws a little better,” Bryan said, adding the team will work during the break on free throw shooting and conditioning.
But, Copan still has one game prior to Christmas, a Monday meeting at home against Olive. The girls play at 6:30 p.m., followed by the boys.
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BOYS: COPAN 60, BLUEJACKET 40
All things considered — a large new group of players and the inevitable changes in playing style with a new head coach — the Copan High boys basketball team has made an auspicious start to the 2022-23 season.
With only one game remaining in December, the Hornets are 4-4 following Friday’s 20-point rout of Bluejacket.
“I thought we came our really aggressive and confident and jumped out ahead 10 or 15 points early,” Hornet head coach Kolton Stacy said. “It hovered around 20 points the whole second half. We didn’t really play well in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter we built up a 22-point or 24-point lead. they hit a few baskets.”
Freshman Shooter Brewington stirred the nets for 23 points — including five three-pointers — to pace Copan’s offensive attack. Although he didn’t shoot as well as usual, freshman Kane Foreman added 12 points, Stacy said.
Stacy also praised the work by new freshman point guard Teegan Caron.
“He’s done a fantastic job,” Stacy said. “I’m most proud of him of everyone. He’s taken over the role of point guard and embraced it.”
Freshman Weston O’Rourke added eight points, while sophomore Karson Woodworth and Caron added six apiece.
Copan plays host Monday to Olive and then goes on a long winter’s nap.
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BOYS: WYANDOTTE 39, CV 37 (OT)
For the second game in a row the Caney Valley Trojans came up just a shot shy of shuttling to a win.
"We lost our last two games by a total of four points," said CV head coach Tug Brinker.
Caney Valley gave itself a chance. The Trojans moved ahead early and powered to a 26-18 lead through three quarters. But, Wyandotte won the fourth quarter, 14-6, and then pulled out the win in overtime, on the final day of the Welch tourney.
"We went cold," Brinker said about the fourth period. 'We just couldn't hit any shots."
For the game, Maverick Condry tallied nine points to lead CV, followed by Tate Longan and Rocky Hester with eight apiece. Ethan Brown and Zak Wallis scored five each and Cooper Fogle recorded two points.
Brinker praised his team's man defense and rebounding effort.
"It'll come," he said about the team's consistent offensive stroke.
Caney Valley carried a 2-5 record into the Christmas break, including four losses by a single-digit margin.
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GIRLS: CV 44, WYANDOTTE 38 (OT)
The Lady Trojans (5-2) powered to the girls third place title in the Kenneth Sooter Invitational (Welch) by defeating Wyandotte, 44-38 (overtime) on Saturday.
The victory avenged an early season loss to Wyandotte.
Caney Valley takes a 5-2 record into the Christmas break.
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BOYS: PRESTON 53, OUHS 38
No. 2 ranked Preston lived up to reputation.
“We were never really in the game,” said OUHS head coach Brad Hall, noting Preston pressed out to early leads of 14-2 and 29-12.
Preston’s point guard scored 27 points.
For OUHS, Levi Krieder tallied 17 points, followed by Kaide Hill with 11 and Jack Campos with seven.
“There’s nothing wrong with the way we played,” Hall said. “They’re just really a good team.”
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GIRLS: COMMERCE 43, NOWATA 40
Commerce sent Nowata into the break with a 3-3 record.
"We missed a last second shot," said Nowata head coach Ty Hewitt. "We just didn't play very well."
Commerce bolted to leads of 12-1 and 20-6 early on.
But, Nowata strung together a 20-7 run -- energized by Nadean Stamps -- to get within a point at halftime, 27-26.
In the second half, Trailee Watson nailed multiple three-pointers to keep Nowata in the game. Nowata missed on a golden chance late, Hewitt said.
Watson scored a team-high nine points for Nowata, followed by Stamps with eight and Kennedy Nubel with six. Jordan Ashley added four points.
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OTHERS
On the girls side, a very strong South Coffeyville crew downed Barnsdall, 52-5. No. 5 ranked Preston beat Oklahoma Union, 87-12.
On the boys side, Nowata beat Commerce, 68-57.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: A look at weekend high school basketball results
