4A basketball: Cushing girls, Victory Christian boys earn state trips after last-second wins
BY MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer
Saturday, March 02, 2013
3/02/13 at 6:03 AM
SKIATOOK - Cushing's girls won a berth to the Class 4A state tournament with 7.8 seconds to spare Friday night.
Victory Christian's boys had a lot less time than that. Trailing Central by a point, the Conquerors had to travel the length of the floor in the final six-tenths of a second.
From under the Central basket, freshman forward Keats Calhoon lofted a long pass that sophomore Emmanuel Adesokan went high to bring down, outjumping a defender.
Adesokan had time to land, stumble and sling a sidearm shot from about 15 feet that banked off the glass and in as time expired.
Victory (24-2) won 72-71 in the Class 4A Area championship game and advanced to the state tournament for the third straight year. Play begins Thursday in Oklahoma City.
Someone might have yelled "Touchdown!" after the winning play.
Calhoon is the quarterback on the Victory Christian football team and Adesokan is a wide receiver.
"It was a great pass by Keats and we couldn't have done it without God, so we give him all the glory," Adesokan said.
No. 3 Cushing downed No. 9 Cascia Hall 43-41 in the girls championship game on Taylor Jones' layup with 7.8 seconds left.
After Cascia tied on Jaime Rahilly's basket with 18 seconds left, but Jones took Shaunda Hagler's inbounds pass and thundered along the left sideline, in front of both benches, before cutting in towards the basket with Commandos in pursuit.
"I just took off (with the ball)," Jones said, her heart still pounding after the dramatic finish. "I was just running for my life, trying to get to the basket."
After Jones' layup, the Commandos hustled the ball into senior guard Reagan Derr and she dribbled frantically to the other end, weaving around a defender in the lane and missing high off the glass with an off-balance shot as time expired.
Victory Christian 72, Central 71: Central trailed 57-47 with 5:47 left, but used the foul line to get back into the game, going 18-for-20 from the line in the fourth quarter.
Shamar Manuel drove to score off the glass with 1.8 seconds left, and the Conquerors, lost more than a second before getting timeout.
Braves coaches questioned whether Adesokan had gotten the shot off in time, but the officials didn't wave it off.
"It's a human call and because we aren't the NBA or college basketball, there is no video evidence," Central coach Eli Brown III said. "And obviously, it's a win (for Victory Christian)."
The Braves play Webster in Saturday's 8 p.m. consolation final for another shot to reach the state tournament. The Warriors beat Vinita 59-44.
Cushing 43, Cascia Hall 41: Cascia Hall led for most of the first three quarters before the Tigers, led by Che'Ron Lewis' 21 points and 12 rebounds, scored eight straight points to tie at 28-all.
From there, the lead seesawed until Cushing eased to a 41-37 cushion. Liesl Spoerl scored with 47 seconds left and Rahilly's trying bucket came after Jones missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
Cascia (20-7) will play No. 11 Vinita at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The Hornets had a 36-35 win over Victory Christian.
Original Print Headline: Cushing girls, Victory boys get late triumphs
