LHS boys subdue PC North in overtime

Early in Lawton High School boys regional tournament opener a pair of missed free throws left head coach Chevis Smith telling his guys “we need those points” and sure enough they missed a good number in regulation and allowed Putnam City North to force overtime.

But once in the extended period the Wolverines finally started to connect from the line and Tavarious Deans took over in the paint and the result was a heart-pounding 69-62 victory to advance to tonight’s 7:30 p.m. title game.

The opponent will be Moore which beat Northwest Classen in Thursday’s late game by a 66-46 score.

LHS is fortunate it wasn’t bumped to the consolation bracket as they struggled at times.

“I guess it was nerves; we had 18 turnovers and missed too many free throws,” Smith said after the wild finish. “When we needed to make some plays in overtime we did what we wanted to do during the game and that was go inside. We hit a couple of threes and then the guys got carried away. We lost our patience on shot selection.

“But in the overtime we were able to get the ball inside and you saw what (Deans) was able to do. We wanted paint touches and we waiting until overtime to get them.”

LHS was forced to overtime after missing two free throws with 8.4 seconds remaining and that allowed PCN a chance and the Panthers were able to get a follow-shot to drop after the Wolverines were unable to grab the rebound. That made it 56-all and it sent the outcome to a four-minute OT.

Deans scored the Wolverines’ first six points of overtime by putting the ball on the floor and penetrating. His last shot overcame a 61-60 PCN lead after Anthony Leonard drilled a trey.

Pene Vasiagote hit 1 of 2 free throws with 1:13 remaining to push the LHS leads to 63-61.

Then came the most hectic sequence of the game. The teams traded turnovers and with the Panthers trying to advance the ball, Lawton High’s Corey Barnes came up with a great steal and from his back passed the ball to Deans who flew downcourt for a resounding slam dunk to push the LHS lead to 65-61 with 37 seconds remaining.

The Panthers missed and were forced to foul and that’s when Deauvyahn Young hit a pair of free throws for a 67-62 lead with 21.5 seconds left and Deans hit two more with 12.1 seconds to go to wrap up the victory.

LHS tried a mixture of defenses to try and control the athletic Panthers, using man-to-man and even some 1-3-1 to mix things up.

“I thought we did a pretty good job defensively; we at least got after them and made the work for their shots,” Smith said. “We just squandered too many chances on offense.”

In other boys regional action, Eisenhower lost to Edmond North, 79-44, in another Class 6A game while MacArthur was edged by Shawnee, 60-54. Both Mac and Ike will play consolation games today to fight to advance to the Area level.