Slow start costs LHS in title game

OKLAHOMA CITY—There was a hint of concern in the comments coming from Lawton High School basketball coach Chevis Smith this past week after the first two games at the Class 5A State Tournament, however, both times the Wolverines found a way to survive and advance.

Saturday it was a different story as the opponent was tradition-rich Booker T. Washington and the Hornets weren’t about to make the afternoon easy at the “Big House” for the Wolverines as the Tulsa crew shot a sizzling 53.2 percent from the field to take the Gold Ball with a 68-44 victory.

While the Wolverines did bring home the Silver Ball, that was of little satisfaction for LHS, especially for the seniors who wanted to be a part of only the second state championship, the first coming back in 1962 when these kids’ grandparents were in their teens.

“We have to get off to a better start against Booker T because they have a good bunch and they are going to make you pay if you make mistakes,” Smith said after a tough semifinal win over Tulsa Memorial on Thursday.

While that didn’t happen as the Wolverines got off to another slow start, there were positive signs for the future that made Coach Smith optimistic moving forward.

“I noticed when we got our medals that I looked over and there were some of our freshmen crying right there with the seniors,” Smith said. “It showed me that this group did some positive things like changing the narrative.

“We got great support not only from the Lawton High fans but also from the other city schools. We changed the environment surrounding this program and that’s exciting.”

Even though Smith had been in a championship program at Millwood, he tried to explain to his team how much different Saturday was going to be compared to Monday when we played there in the Big House in the first round.

“You get that big crowd in there like it was today and there are going to be some nerves involved,” Smith said. It’s not really nerves but it was more of a feeling that they wanted to win so much that they just rushed some shots and also took some shots we don’t usually take.”

Of course, there was more pressure coming from the fact that the Hornets where making half the shots they launched.

“That kid (LJ Scott) comes off the bench and hits 4-of-4 from 3-point range,” Smith said. “They wound up hitting 11-of-22 from long range and that’s hard to beat. They also were getting wide-open looks and we just couldn’t react fast enough to close out on them.”

While the Hornets were hitting half their shots, the Wolverines struggled in that area, making just 18-of-62 for 29 percent, a mark that won’t win many games.

“We wanted to take better shots but when you force them because you’re falling behind, you start rushing shots and things go downhill fast. We made it close for four or five minutes but then they just pulled away.”

LHS wound up making just 3-of-24 from long range, a paltry 12.5 percent figure.

It also hurt that Tavaris Deans and Pene Vasagote both got two quick fouls and with the score rapidly getting more lop-sided, Smith was forced to gamble and leave them in the game. To their credit both managed to stick around for the full game.

Deans wound up as the scoring leader for LHS with 15 points. No other LHS player reached double figures but nine players did score.

“The good thing is that we got these freshmen some action and that can only help us in the future,” Smith said. “A group of these younger kids are going to play together this summer and work to keep improving.”

Smith gave credit to his group of six seniors and he also praised his assistants.

“These seniors have done a good job getting us to this point; of getting back to the state tournaments,” Smith said. “My assistants—Craig Foster, Jeffrey Gulley and Chad Goulsby— really helped get us get to this point and our athletic coordinator Lorenzo Williams was really a part of this, helping out in any way he could.”