Big Pasture, Sterling boys hit finals again

For some teams, what happens in the Comanche County Tournament is a big deal to their fans, but for the higher seeds this is their final chance to build their resumes for the playoffs and count top-seeded Big Pasture and Sterling boys among that group.

Friday the Rangers routed Walters, 78-49, to move into tonight’s finals against Sterling, which decked Chattanooga, 67-32, and that matchup will begin at 8 p.m. at the Great Plains Coliseum and cap a busy day of basketball. It will mark the third straight season that the same two schools played for the boys title. The championship night session features top-seeded Chattanooga girls against Walters at 6:30 p.m.

The first session begins at 11 a.m. as Fletcher and Tipton girls battle for the consolation title, then the same two schools meet in the boys consolation finals. At 2 p.m., Geronimo and Sterling girls meet for third in that bracket and at 3:30 it will be Walters and Chattanooga g for third in the boys bracket.

Rangers need big night

Despite owning a 16-2 record, the Rangers are seeded 17th in the latest OSSAA coaches’ rankings and their last chance to move higher is this weekend as the final rankings will determine how the four Area Tournaments are seeded.

“We have been working all season trying to peak this week because we knew it was important,” BP Coach Hunter Quickle said after Friday’s game. “There are some good teams in this region and it would be nice to get a little higher, so for that reason this is huge for our guys.”

Quickle saw plenty from his Rangers in the win but they were a little slow to get started, seeing Walters tie the game at 18-18 before the Rangers went on a spurt to make it 27-18 and by the time the teams reached the halftime break that lead had grown to 39-24.

“Outside of the fact we didn’t get off to a great start I thought we played pretty well after that,” Quickle said. “We came in feeling we let a couple of chances get away from us the last two years, so our guys are eager to get another chance at this thing.”

The Rangers had three players reach double figures led by Lane Tinsley with 26, Hayden Tinsley with 19 and Kolby Winkler with 14. Trevin Reed paced Walters with 25 and LD Martin added 12, all on treys. In fact, it was a pair of his treys that helped pulled the Blue Devils even at 18-18 with 6:56 left in the second quarter. Reed scored 13 in the fourth but by then the Rangers were well in command.

Sterling got fast start

The Tigers bolted out to a 18-7 lead after one quarter and it never got any closer.

“I thought we did a little better with our defensive intensity,” Sterling head coach Jayson Wilson said. “That’s something we’ve been working on to get settled into our offense and defense early in games and turn up the pressure. That and take smarter shots.”

Gavin Mansel was the ringleader for the Tigers with 19, however, he got plenty of help as eight teammates also scored. Riley Lile added 13 and was also a force in the middle but Mansel was the player that Chatty couldn’t stop.

“Gavin can literally shoot from 40 foot; he’s that good a shooter,” Wilson said. “He can be a good post for you, a good mid-range guy but the thing is that he’s usually either one or the other each game. When he gets its all going he’s tough to defend but it depends on him. Plus our other shooters have started knocking down shots.”

Saturday’s title game will be a challenge as the Rangers have a big height advantage and talented guard Lane Tinsley.

“We know all about the Tinsley boys (Lane and Hayden) and the big guy (Jace Skocelas) is playing better,” Wilson said. “Lane is their captain and he’s a good distributer and when he’s shooting well that night it makes him even more dangerous. Hopefully I have a defender who can get out there and slow him down just a bit.

“I know it will be a challenge inside but I think my guy (Mansel) is a little quicker and plays taller but we have to play well defensively.”

While BP has a shot in Class B to get a high seed, Wilson feels his club might get through district but regional could be a challenge with several good Class A teams in this region, including No. 5 Binger-Oney, No. 8 Amber-Pocasset and No. 10 Velma-Alma.

“We jumped into the rankings at No. 20 but we really need to play well tomorrow and see what happens,” Wilson said.

Fletcher, Tipton teams win

Friday’s action started with two consolation games and in the opener Fletcher boys earned a 66-34 victory and marked several years of not punching their ticket to play for hardware on Saturday. Nine Fletcher players scored including Damarrien Garner who scored 14 to lead the way.

The other consolation game was taken by Tipton, 54-31, over Indiahoma. Tipton bolted out to an early 18-3 before the Warriors got some offense going and closed the gap although the Tigers were well in command. Dayton Stevens led the way for Tipton with 16 while Tristan Locklear led the Warriors with 16, all those coming in the last three quarters.