TheClass A boys basketball state tournamentstarted Thursday at State Fair Arena. Here's a look at what happened in the quarterfinals:
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Okarche 63, Rattan 54
Caden Schieber had a clear focus heading into Thursday night.
Lots of things go into winning basketball games, but Schieber — a 6-foot-5 senior at Okarche — was determined to make sure his team emerged victorious in one particular battle.
“The main goal was to out-rebound the other team,” Schieber said. “I think we did that. That’s what I was striving for out there.”
Schieber wanted to dominate the glass, and he did just that as Class A fourth-ranked Okarche defeated No. 2 Rattan 63-54 at State Fair Arena, advancing to a semifinal matchup against No. 3 Sentinel that will be held at 6 p.m. Friday.
Schieber finished with 17 rebounds and also had 14 points, while sophom*ore Jett Mueggenborg led the team with 18 points.
Rattan beat Okarche 75-60 in the quarterfinals last year, so this was a highly-anticipated matchup for Okarche.
“Our guys really wanted this one,” Okarche coach Aaron West said. “We came in, and we had a good week of practice.”
Okarche (25-4), which out-rebounded Rattan 31-29, had a 48-45 lead heading into the fourth before pulling away, outscoring Rattan by six points from there.
Schieber and Mueggenborg stood out offensively. Sophom*ore Easton Roby also had a solid night as he finished with 13 points, while senior Wyatt Pinkerton had nine and junior Hunter Mueggenborg added seven.
Leading Rattan (28-4) were senior Logan Smith, who had 15 points, and senior Keegan Robertson, who had 12.
Okarche has just one boys basketball state championship, and that came in 1979.
Last year’s loss in the quarterfinals was on the players’ minds all offseason, and they got their chance at revenge Thursday.
“All year we’ve been working hard,” Schieber said. “And we wanted to play them. We wanted to come back and beat them.”
-Nick Sardis, Staff writer
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Sentinel 52, Red Oak 49
The nerves seemed to be getting to Sentinel.
Its boys basketball program had never won a game at the state tournament heading into Thursday night. But after trailing by 14 points at the end of the first quarter against Red Oak, things started to click.
“Our slogan is ‘never out with a fight,’” Sentinel coach Tyler Snowden said. “We just kept grinding.”
Led by an 18-point performance from sophom*ore Mavrick Sanders, Class A third-ranked Sentinel closed the gap and went on to edge No. 20 Red Oak 52-49 at State Fair Arena as the boys earned their first state tournament win.
“It’s great,” Sanders said. “It’s cool being the first ones to ever do it.”
Sentinel’s defense locked down in the second quarter, and Red Oak’s lead diminished to just two heading into halftime.
Despite the early deficit, Snowden was confident his squad could bounce back.
“It’s a whole lot better to be down that much early in the game than it is late,” he said. “So that’s what I was thinking. If we’re going to play bad, let’s play bad early, not late. I knew if we got settled down, we would have a chance because they’re not a typically high-scoring team.”
Sentinel (29-1) and Red Oak (23-7) battled in the second half, but Sentinel outscored Red Oak 11-6 in the fourth to seal the win.
Along with Sanders, junior Brady Wootton played a key role, finishing with 13 points and five assists, while sophom*ore Ace Snowden and senior Raul Lopez each had six points.
Senior Rabbit Holly led Red Oak with 12 points. Junior Reed Kauk and junior Adam Fenton each had 11.
-Nick Sardis, Staff writer
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Caddo 60, Drummond 40
DJ Dill needed a half of basketball to adjust to the lights at the big house.
Much like Caddo's start to the 2023-24 season, Dill struggled to settle in early. But soon after he ran onto the floor for the second half against Drummond, the game began to slow down for him.
"Coming out, I couldn't hit any shots, but we survived by playing great defense," Dill said. "And that translated well for us into the second half. I started getting to my spots, and luckily, I got into a rhythm because of it."
Dill had a dominant Class A state tournament opener, totaling a game-high 22 points and 14 rebounds in fifth-ranked Caddo's 60-40 win over Drummond on Thursday.
Caddo opened the contest on a 10-2 run highlighted by buckets from guard Carson Culbreath, who finished with 13 points. Despite a lousy shooting half, Caddo held Drummond to just 13 first-half points before Dill erupted for 16 points after halftime.
"We played some of the best defense I've seen from us all season," Caddo head coach Kolby Johnson said. "We had them in the 20s for a really long time, and that's an excellent team over there. It's just a testament to our defense."
While Caddo has been consistent over the past weeks, the defending champions went through a rough stretch in December. They lost five consecutive games while playing 4A, 5A, and 6A competitions at the Mustang Classic.
But since then, Caddo has been on a tear. With Thursday's quarterfinal win, they've now won 16 consecutive games during its quest for another Class A state title.
"During that time, everyone was like, 'What happened to Caddo?'" Dill said. "But we proved them wrong and made it here. We proved to ourselves that we knew we could do this. We're just set out on a mission to repeat as state champs."
-Jordan Davis, Staff writer
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Seiling 54, Okay 52
As the clock drew down to the waning seconds, Kaden Manuel had a decision to make.
The senior guard first looked for the hot hand in Hudson Hamar. But after seeing he was covered, Manuel figured he had a good enough look to take matters into his own hands.
“I told Jaron (Hunter) and Hudson in the huddle that the defense was going to double them,” Manuel said. “So when they weren’t open, I took a peek up at the clock with about three to go and just put up whatever I could.”
Manuel’s running floater as time expired rolled in, securing Seiling’s 54-52 upset win over first-ranked Okay.
Chaos preceded the game-winner as the scoreboard drew still at 52 for the final three minutes of action. Each time Okay put points on the board in the fourth quarter, Seiling responded swiftly with an answer.
“They were the number one team, and we felt we had a really good chance coming in,” Manuel said. “Once we saw that they were the ones that seemed to be nervous, we were confident in us pulling off the upset.”
The quarterfinal matchup on Thursday was an area playoff rematch between the two teams from a prior year. In that showdown, Okay got the best of Seiling in overtime in a game that they regret.
With last year’s result in mind, Seiling strived for redemption during its 100-mile drive south to State Fair Arena.
“When we set out to come here, we made it clear that this was a business trip,” Seiling head coach Eric Norton said. “Our guys knew what we were up against ahead of time and already knew that we could compete with them. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
-Jordan Davis, Staff writer
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