LHS boys fall in double OT; Mac girls beaten

Basketball season is over for three city basketball teams but three others remain alive in the playoffs but their road to the Area Tournament is going to take a detour through the consolation bracket.

MacArthur girls were the first to drop out of the winner’s bracket after being plagued by turnovers, poor shot selection and then just trouble making even good shots as the Highlanders fell to Shawnee, 34-31, Friday afternoon at the Mac Gym.

The problem was plain and simple; the Mac girls just didn’t make shots, scoring only eight points in the second half. That turned Mac’s 23-16 halftime lead into the important loss. Now Mac girls must turn around today and head to El Reno for a 3:30 game against Altus which advanced on a bye due to an odd number of 5A West girls teams.

Then Friday night Lawton High School and Moore waged one of the best regional games in many years, going to double overtime before the Lions pulled out a tense 59-53 win in a game the Wolverines had more than their share of chances of pulling out the win.

Now Saturday night the Wolverines not only are coming off a loss but they must hit the road and travel to Edmond North for a consolation game against the survivor in that 6A Regional.

The only Lawton team to win Friday was Mac boys who routed Guymon, 69-35. Mac will have to travel to Guthrie to face the survivor of the consolation bracket in the Midwest City 5A Regional.

The three other city teams are finished. Eisenhower boys lost to Putnam City West, 63-43, Ike girls lost to Deer Creek-Edmond, 47-41, and Norman girls ended Lawton High’s season with a 70-35 loss.

But on this night the LHS-Moore game was the feature with a host of athletic players on both clubs and a large, loud crowd.

It took a trey from Deauvyahn Young with 20 seconds left to get the Wolverines into the first overtime period with a 44-all score.

In the first OT it appeared the Wolverines might pull away, building a 50-46 lead with 1:28 remaining. But a close five-second call cost the Wolverines one possession that the Lions converted into a trey, then just seconds later LHS converted just 1-of-2 free throws leaving the score at 51-49.

With time running down the Lions got the ball inside but the shot missed, however, a strange bounce off the rim went right to a Moore player who flipped the ball up and it went in as the buzzer sounded.

Then in the second OT the Lions turned another LHS turnover into a big trey for a 54-51 lead but LHS cut it to a two-point with another free throw with 2:44 remaining.

Once again turnovers were costly as LHS couldn’t get anything going on offense and when Tavarious Deans and Pene Vasiagote both fouled out, the Lions put it away with three late free throws.

Mac’s girls suffered a similar fate against Shawnee, failing to get good looks at the bucket at times and then just missing them on others.

However, the Highlanders were down by just one, 29-28, entering the fourth quarter but their offensive woes really mounted in that quarter as they could only produce one bucket, that coming from Alysa Mack with 1:18 remaining. She was fouled on the play and also converted the free throw to get Mac within a point at 32-31.

Shawnee tried to help the Mac cause with two late turnovers but Mac was unable to get anything to drop and wound up falling by three points.