Lawton High, Memorial clash tonight

One enjoyable part of the Oklahoma Basketball Tournaments is an opportunity to see teams from the eastern part of the state but when Lawton High School meets Tulsa Memorial this evening in the Class 5A semifinals there will be no secrets between the talented clubs.

For the past several seasons Tulsa Memorial Head Coach Bobby Allison has been bringing his club to Lawton for the Waste Solutions Invitational at the Great Plains Coliseum.

The tournament was the idea of MacArthur coach Marco Gagliardi and his ability to get good teams to come to Lawton has been a blessing for the teams involved.

“We want to play a tough schedule; that’s how you improve by going against good competition,” LHS coach Chevis Smith said before the December tournament.

Three months later and both Smith and Allison are probably dissecting the video from that tournament which featured the two teams in the title contest that the Wolverines won in overtime, 69-67.

Tonight the Chargers and Wolverines meet again, this time at 8 p.m. at Yukon High School in the Class 5A State semifinals.

Both teams have lived up to the hype that both received in the pre-season rankings and them meeting again doesn’t come as a surprise to other state coaches and media members.

As exciting as that earlier game proved to be, this contest has the treasured “Gold Ball” up for grabs and which team handles the pressure better will probably come away with the win and a chance to play in the finals Saturday at 4 p.m. at the “Big House” on the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds.

The Chargers have several talented players but one of the most explosive is shooting guard Fabian Harris who has excellent range and will be one of the players the Wolverines will have to be within range when he pulls the trigger.

Memorial will also have an edge in height with Jalil Cotton and Jaden Johnson both standing 6-6 and both strong rebounders.

While the Wolverines don’t have anyone that tall in their starting lineup, Pene Vasagote and Tavaris Deans are listed at 6-3 but both are great leapers and have shown in the playoffs they can contend with taller players.

In Monday’s win over Tulsa East Central, the Wolverines were hurt in the early going by 6-10 DeMario Adams who was able to get to the rim and score at ease. But as the game moved forward, the Wolverines did a good job of adjusting their defense and he struggled to score, putting just five points in the scorebook in the second half and grabbing just 10 rebounds in the game.

That was an important factor down the stretch run to the final whistle.

Another important factor was Lawton High’s free throw shooting as the Wolverines sank 14-of-15 as those big charity tosses kept the Tulsa crew from getting closer in the final minutes.