High School Boys Basketball Notebook: Sperry outlasts Adair
BY BARRY LEWIS World Sports Writer
Monday, March 04, 2013
3/04/13 at 3:22 AM
Dylan Parker's tiebreaking 3-pointer with five seconds left in overtime gave Sperry an 88-85 victory over Adair in a Class 3A area consolation final on Saturday night at Fort Gibson.
The fifth-ranked Pirates (23-4) return to the state tournament after qualifying for the first time last year.
"After (All-State player) C.J. Cole graduated, there were a lot of doubters about whether we could get back," Sperry coach Lance Kight said on Sunday. "Our guys have played with a chip on their shoulder all year. The kids have been real resilient and refuse to lose."
They had to have those traits in order to survive against Adair after losing to No. 4 Verdigris on Friday.
Adair, which was trying to qualify for state by winning six in a row through the losers bracket, sent the game into OT on Brady Bradbury's trey with three seconds left in regulation.
The Warriors led in OT until Sperry's Peyton Pratt sank a trey with a minute left. Bradbury later tied the game at 85 on another trey with 15 seconds left. Parker's winning shot was assisted by Blake Teel. Bradbury, who had 34 points, narrowly missed a halfcourt shot at the buzzer.
"He was unstoppable," Kight said, "We double-teamed him all night. If there was a better basketball game in the state Saturday night, I would have liked to have seen it. It was a throwback game with a lot of scoring."
Pratt and Casey Cole scored 17 points each for Sperry. It was the second straight year that Sperry edged Adair in the area consolation final. Last year's score was 41-37.
Sperry is looking for a more successful trip to the state tournament this year after suffering a 62-59 loss to Washington in the 2012 quarterfinals. The Pirates play No. 8 Tahlequah Sequoyah at 2 p.m. Thursday at Yukon.
"The team that wins might score 100 points," Kight said. "They like to run and gun and shoot 3s. It should be a high scoring affair."
Ketchum stays perfect: The top-ranked team in 2A won't be in the state tournament after Oklahoma City Northeast lost 52-51 to No. 2 Ketchum on Friday and 62-40 to unranked Chouteau on Saturday. Chouteau avenged a 55-46 loss in the regional final. Northeast, the defending state champion, had not lost a 2A game in two years prior to the area tournament at Claremore.
"2A is shook up," Ketchum coach Grant Callison said even before Northeast's loss against Chouteau.
Ketchum (26-0) is in the state tournament for the first time since 1997.
"This was big for our confidence," Callison said about defeating Northeast. "We had never been in as big a situation as that before. We took it to them and didn't choke or get nervous. The crowd was unbelievable. It was so loud during timeouts, I had to quiet the crowd near our bench so we could hear."
Tanner Mouse had 21 points, seven assists and six rebounds for Ketchum while teammate Jeylyn Sharpe contributed 19 points, 20 rebounds and three assists. Sharpe has 67 rebounds in four playoff games. He averages 22 points and 11 rebounds.
"This is a special team," Callison said. "Our kids are gamers."
Rams draw Putnam West: Fourth-ranked Owasso, the East's top seed, will make its first state tournament appearance since 2005 when it faces No. 14 Putnam West in a 6A quarterfinal at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Mabee Center. Putnam West qualified with a 58-52 win over Lawton Eisenhower on Saturday.
"We saw them play last night," Owasso coach Mark Vancuren said at the 6A-5A state tournament coaches meeting at the Mabee Center on Sunday. "They are very athletic. One kid (sophomore Tyson Jolly) is being recruited by OU. They have quality players and very quick. We're really going to have to play well if we want to move on."
