DRUMRIGHT — Tornado basketball ended Friday night with a classic. Drumright and Yale Boys had a great game. It appeared Yale was a big favorite, but the Tornadoes didn’t believe it. We did lose but it didn’t feel like it.
We lost 79-76 and had quite a few chances. The Tornadoes were down late in the first half, the Tornadoes trailed 42-27 but had a 9-2 run and it was 44-36 at the half.
By the end of the the third quarter the Tornadoes had a 55-54 lead on Keaton Jensen’s tip in.
Jensen had 30 points in the game hitting a three but was mostly unstoppable driving to the basket.
Keegan Ward was a warrior out there driving to the basket, getting a lot of rebounds, as did Jensen. He finished with 11 points (9 in the first half).
Garrett Wright had 16 points hitting 2 threes and had the blocked shot of the year, pinning the ball to the backboard when it looked like Yale had a layup.
Rhett Cearley had 8 points inside, and a lot of rebounds. Zaedon “Blue” Stewart had five points hitting a three and was 2 for 2 from the line. He played extremely hard.
Kypton Ward had 6 points cutting to the basket and was 2 for 2 from the line, it was one of the Tornadoes best shooting nights from the line hitting 14 out of 19.
Austin Tull and Sammy Blackburn also played hard but Yale played hard too, hitting a great percentage of their shots.
Drake Simpson had 20 points hitting a three, Kenneth Newman hit 3 threes had had 15 points, Brycin Hoeltzel had 14 points inside, Levi Benjamin had 12 points and was 4 for 4 at the line.
The Bulldogs were 6 for 7 from the line in the last quarter.
Noah Baker had 11 points going 3 out of 4 from the line. Koda Mueggenborg hit the first five points of the fourth quarter for the bulldogs, hitting a three. He played very hard.
Tyler Thompson had two points and got after it on defense, also playing hard were Ben Whitsett and Spencer Brown.
The Tornadoes Garrett Wright came close to hitting a half court shot at the buzzer that would have put the game into overtime.
The Tornadoes have no seniors on the team this year. Yale also gets most of their players back plus gets point guard Jaden Rolland back from an injury.
Tornado coaches are Jason “Sharp Dressed Man” Bray, Mike Ledgerwood, and Terry Mattox. Yale coaches are Mike Moore, Jacob Skinner, and Nate Folger.
Lady Tornadoes
Drumright’s Lady Tornadoes season ended on Thursday night getting beat by a better than expected Barnsdall team 62-51. The first quarter was close with Barnsdall leading 15-14 but the dreaded second quarter got us again as Barnsdall out scored us 20-10.
Evie Ools had 9 in the first half dominating inside. Torin Bray had 4 points early around the basket, Alyssa Roe hit a three. Aubree “Breezy” Brimmer hit two easy shots and was 6 for 6 from the line, finishing with 10 points.
The ladies were 10 for 15 from the line. Makay Reed hit a three, and Lauren Janzen had 2 points.
The second half the ladies had to play ketchup as Barnsdall, as Barnsdall was red hot on their shots. They hit 9 threes, one girl who didn’t look a day over 14 hit five threes and was a senior.
Lauren Janzen’s cousin from Barnsdall, with the last name of Hicks, hit two threes and was 7 out of 8 from the line. As a team Barnsdall was 16 out of 19 for free throws. One Barnsdall girls had quite a few blocked shots. Barnsdall started four seniors. Experience was a big factor in the game. Ools led the scoring with 11, Brimmer 10, Reed 7 hitting a three, Braelin Wright had 6 late points, Torin Bray had 4, Janzen 7 hitting a three, Aubrey Allen 1.
I believe both our teams won more than they lost. Jason Bray said the boys had the third best defense in class A. I think the girls had a very good defensive rating too. The Lady Tornado coaches are Lauren Campo and Alyssa Fuxa.
Unfortunately the Yale boys lost to AMPO (Amber Pocasset) 57-52. The Yale vs Drumright game was over at 9:30 p.m. and had to come back the next day and play AMPO at 2:30 p.m. and lost 57-52. The Yale Girls got beat put by Riverfield 40-39. Their coach is Nate Folger.
In the regional finals, the AMPO girls beat Waukomis 52-39 and Waukomis boys beat Riverfield 6851.
Thursday night Drumright boys played Barnsdall and won 61-45. We were down 28-24 at the half but out scored Barnsdall 37-17. The second half, Sammy Blackburn helped keep us in the game with 6 points. Stewart had 5 points in the fourth playing like his life depended on it.
Jensen had 16 and was 9 for 9 from the free throw line. Garrett Wright hit 4 threes in the third quarter. Keegan Ward had 5 (4 in the fourth quarter). Kypton Ward had 4, Cearley had 4. Also playing hard were Abel Robbins and Austin Tull. At the end of the Drumright vs Yale game, Yale joined the prayer circle and I got to take pictures with this years players.