MANNFORD — This was one of those weeks that reminds you that Mannford Purple Pirate basketball refuses to follow the script.
The Class 4A Pirates stayed home Dec. 16 to face the Kiefer Trojans, knowing what to expect from the No. 18 team in OSSAA 3A basketball and ran with them the entire game. Three nights later, they hopped on a bus and walked into a gym where winning is never supposed to be easy, and came home with a momentum-building result.
The week opened with that 43–41 loss to Kiefer, a game that felt like it should have been settled earlier but never quite was. Logan Bynum carried the scoring load with 17 points, attacking gaps and finding space when Mannford needed answers. Max Moore added 10, giving the Pirates a second scorer to lean on, while JJ Hindsman did the unglamorous work that keeps games close, ripping down 10 rebounds and turning missed shots into second chances.
“We defended well most of the day,” head coach Alex Moore said afterward. “The boys played hard.”
Defense wasn’t the problem. Mannford stayed connected, contested shots, and forced Kiefer to earn every look. Late stops gave the Pirates the ball with a chance to win it.
“We made several plays on the defensive end to give us a chance to win it,” Moore said. “We had a good look from three that would have won it but it did not go down and sometimes that is the way it goes.”
Sometimes the ball tells the truth. Sometimes it lies. On that Tuesday night, it rattled the rim — a big fat liar.
Friday night in Cushing told a different story.
The Pirates arrived knowing fullwell this one wouldn’t be gifted. Cushing never hands out wins like candied pecans in a jar on the counter at G-ma’s house. You’ve got to earn them.
Mannford jumped out early, leading 12-9 thanks to Landon Owens who hit three from short range and Bynum and Ben Shasteen who each hit a trey. Cushing’sD tightened up and the Tigers took a 21-18 lead into the halftime locker room Mannford stayed close in the third, but not close enough — a 6–5 Cushing edge pushed the deficit to 23-27 entering the fourth frame.
That’s where the evening finally turned.
“This was a true character win for us,” Moore said. “Things did not go our way for a good chunk of the game but our defense kept us in it.”
The individual numbers from the fourth quarter look almost mundane until you see the total and realize that five shooters contributed to score 19 points in the final eight minutes while holding Cushing to 10. Bynum and Cooper Ausbern each hit treys, Moore hit the front side of a two shot foul. Owens was killing it in the paint, and off the bench, J. J. Haindsman contributed four in the fourth quarter, flipping a tight grinder into a 42–37 road win in a house that hates to lose.
“We trailed by eight early in the fourth before closing the game on a 19–6 run,” Moore said.
The run didn’t happen quietly. It announced itself.
Logan Bynum drilled a three — Ausbern drained another. Two possessions, six points. The momentum on the floor changed as the visitors side of the bleachers got loud — Mannford travels well.
“Logan Bynum and Cooper Ausbern hit back-to-back threes to get us going on that run,” Moore said.
From there, Mannford leaned on the players who thrive when the air thins. Landon Owens delivered the best game of his season, scoring 16 points while doing everything else coaches scribble in the margins of a stat sheet. He finished with seven rebounds, four steals, and the kind of defensive presence that doesn’t show up until you notice opponents start to make bad decisions.
“Landon had perhaps his best game of the year,” Moore said. “We rely on his defensive abilities but he led us in scoring with 16.”
Owens scored from the floor, lived in traffic, and absorbed contact. He went 7-for-13 on twopoint attempts and added points at the free-throw line when Cushing had no choice but to foul.
Bynum followed with nine points, but his night stretched far beyond scoring. He knocked down two three-pointers, added a free throw, pulled down seven rebounds, swiped three steals, and erased two shots at the rim. When Mannford needed momentum, he supplied it. When Cushing needed their momentom checked, he took care of that, too.
Ausbern finished with seven points, including the three that helped crack the game open. JJ Hindsman added six points and matched Owens with seven rebounds, anchoring the paint and protecting possessions when fouls mounted elsewhere.
“We had a few guys in foul trouble,” Moore said, “but our defense kept us in it.”
The book shows it clearly. Mannford won the fourth quarter 19–10. They didn’t dominate the night — just the moment that mattered most.
The Pirates head into the break 3–4 overall and 2–2 in conference play, carrying both the sting of a home loss they’d like back and the confidence of a road win they earned the hard way. One game stayed home and slipped away. The other climbed on a bus and came back changed.