LHS pulls away late, wins title at Coliseum

While the Lawton High School shooting chart may not be fun for the coaches to scan, when the Wolverines needed some shots to fall they got big 3-pointers from Avery Young and Corey Barnes to finally put Tulsa Memorial away by a 42-35 score Saturday in the title game of the Waste Solutions Great Plains Invitational.

For much of the game the Wolverines struggled to get long-range shots to drop as they hit only three bombs before intermission but there were many more misses.

“Memorial was switching from man defense to that 2-3 they run and we got a little stagnant,” LHS coach Chevis Smith said. “We took too many from long range. We needed to flash to the lane and be more patient. We also didn’t have much energy either.

“This team lives off energy and for the first three quarters we didn’t have much. We finally got some big shots to drop and that sparked us to finally put them away.”

The Tulsa crew had owned the lead for much of the game until Young drilled a trey with 1:25 left in the third quarter to give LHS a 28-27 lead before Memorial tied it with a free throw at the 0:32 mark of the third quarter.

Then LHS started to assert itself as Pene Vasiagote sank a nice 8-foot jumper for a 30-28 LHS lead at the 7:40 mark of the fourth. After a Memorial miss, Barnes got open in the corner and drained a trey for a 33-28 lead with 5:42 left in the game.

Memorial used a bucket to stop the LHS run but Young launched a trey that hit the rim, bounced straight up and fell back through the bucket for a 36-31 LHS lead that sent the large group of local fans into a frenzy.

Memorial finally got back on the board with a layup to make it 38-33 and coach Bobby Allison quickly called his last timeout to plot his press.

But the Wolverines were ready as they got the ball inbounded and Vasiagote broke to the bucket, got a great pass and slammed home a monster dunk that really got the home fans going. That arranged a 40-33 score and from that point Barnes calmly sank two free throws to complete the scoring and start the celebration.

Earlier Saturday, Newcastle beat Eisenhower, 58-51, for fifth place, Northwest Classen edged MacArthur, 53-48, for third and Putnam City beat U.S. Grant, 70-51, for seventh.

MacArthur had its chances to earn the third-place trophy but the Highlanders were plagued by turnovers and poor shot selection during the hectic final two minutes. The Highlanders tied the game with 2:27 remaining when Brennan Malone got a steal and layup but the Knights quickly got the ball to the other end and Kemar Cyrus sank an uncontested layup to put the Knights back in front, 50-48, with 1:46 to go.

That’s when the Highlanders watched precious seconds click off the clock as they scrambled to foul in an attempt to send the Knights to the line. Mac got the foul at the 52-second mark but turned the ball over and when they fouled that time, Cyrus sank two free throws for a 52-48 lead and the Highlanders were unable to get off another shot after another late turnover.

Malone led the Mac attack with 17 but no other Highlander reached double figures.

Eisenhower once again got off to a bad start, falling behind by a 21-11 score after one quarter. The Eagles had their chances down the stretch but a couple of turnovers kept the Racers just far enough in front to seal the victory.