Oklahoma boys basketball notebook: Cashion closes regular season with flourish; buzzer-beater allows Inola to shock Verdigris; Tuttle gains momentum entering 4A postseason

By Buck Ringgold

Cashion won a state title in football two months ago.

The Wildcats are now aiming to do the same in basketball, and if the past three regular-season games were any indication, they may very well hoist their own gold ball.

Cashion, ranked No. 3 in the final OSSAARankings.com 2A poll, beat three top eight teams in its own class to cap the regular season. The Wildcats beat No. 4 Morrison on Feb. 10 (64-55), No. 1 Dale on Monday (54-39) and No. 8 Watonga on Tuesday (51-50).

Cashion (18-5) also goes into the playoffs riding a current six-game winning streak.

"We were able to play one game before Christmas break (due to the football team's run to the Class A title)," Cashion coach John Hardaway said. "Then we participated in the Tournament of Champions (in Tulsa), losing to Jenks, Crossings Christian, and Hydro-Eakly, all games that we had a lead at some point against them in the fourth quarter."

The Wildcats received another blow after the ToC when three-year starting point guard Jonah Jenkins suffered a shoulder injury, forcing him to miss 11 games.

But Cashion regrouped and went 10-1 in Jenkins' absence, beating ranked teams like Watonga, Seiling, Bishop McGuinness and Oklahoma Christian School, the No. 1 ranked team in 3A.

Jenkins returned to play, ironically enough, in the Wildcats' last loss, 34-29, to 3A No. 3 Alva on Jan. 28.

"Three players have led us in scoring in Austin Frazier, Vance Raney and Jonah Jenkins," Hardaway said. "We have also got significant contributions from Landon LaGasse, who is averaging nine points and nine rebounds a game as well as Nick Nabavi, Trey Tichenor, Mason Manning, Jackson Vandruff and Bryce Burke."

In the win against Dale, which ended the Pirates' 18-game winning streak, Jenkins had 15 points, Raney 14 and Frazier 13. Raney also hit four of the Wildcats' seven 3-pointers.

Raney had a team-high 16 points in Tuesday's win, with Jenkins and Frazier adding 13 and 10 points, respectively. Frazier's driving shot in the lane with time running out lifted the Wildcats to victory.

Cashion begins the 2A playoffs with a district game at home Saturday against Stroud.

"We are looking forward to the playoffs; we start five seniors with another two coming off the bench," Hardaway said. "This group has all started or played significant minutes since their sophomore years.

"In the past two years we have gone 25-3 and 21-4, reaching the state tournament both years. Our kids are extremely driven and focused on doing everything possible to win the state championship this year; that has been the their only goal."

Inola

It was a play reminiscent of Grant Hill's long pass to Christian Laettner, who hit a desperation shot at the buzzer in Duke's memorable win against Kentucky in the 1992 NCAA Tournament. That iconic play allowed the Blue Devils to advance to the Final Four and eventually repeat as national champions.

Albeit on a smaller scale, a similar play unfolded at the end of Inola's regular-season finale at Verdigris.

With three seconds left in a 49-all score, Keaton Miller inbounded the ball underneath the Cardinals' basket, in a fairly identical spot where Hill threw his pass to Laettner. Like Hill, Miller proceeded to throw a long pass almost the length of the court.

Logan Hayes jumped for the pass in the paint, and actually caught it when it deflected off the fingertips of a Verdigris defender who was also going after the ball. Hayes then quickly positioned himself to release the ball several feet from the goal.

The ball hit nothing but net, and predictably, Hayes was promptly mobbed by his teammates.

Hayes' shot capped a game-ending 6-0 run from the Longhorns, who led for most of the game until Verdigris went in front late. Another big play in that important run was a 3-pointer from Jackson Welch, who along with Christian Jones had 13 points apiece.

Inola's win snapped what had been a 10-game winning streak for the Cardinals (18-3) going into Tuesday's game. The Longhorns (12-9) avenged two defeats to Verdigris earlier in the season, including one in Inola's own tournament.

But it's the Longhorns who enter the 4A playoffs on a winning streak, as they now have won four straight. That includes scoring 90 points in a 90-74 win against Oologah on Feb. 10.

Inola will face Tulsa Webster in Saturday's 4A district playoff.

Verdigris, meanwhile, opens its 4A district tournament on Saturday at home against Skiatook.

Tuttle

The Tuttle girls basketball team won the 4A title last season and is a favorite to win again in March.

They might have some company in the Tigers, who are set to make a title run of their own.

Tuttle, which finished No. 5 in the final OSSAARankings.com Class 4A rankings, enters the playoffs having won 11 of its past 12 ballgames. That includes two straight wins against ranked 4A teams, 51-43 against No. 18 Clinton on Feb. 10 and then a 50-49 escape the next night against Weatherford.

Senior Isaac McDoulett was the top scorer in both of those wins. He had 18 points and seven rebounds in the win against Clinton and also had 29 points against Weatherford.

The Tigers (17-4) had three in double figures against Clinton. Along with McDoulett, fellow senior Mason Stokes had 16 points and Garrett Redwine, a junior, finished with 10.

Stokes nearly had a double-double against Weatherford, finishing with eight points and 11 rebounds. Tylor McCarthey, a senior, did reach double figures in points with 10, while also grabbing six boards.

In December, Tuttle won the Bishop Kelley tournament in Tulsa, beating 6A Mustang in the title game. During a nine-game winning streak, the Tigers claimed first place in the Jones Tournament.

While that streak was broken with a 60-43 loss at Newcastle on Feb. 8, the Tigers got a big bounce-back with the consecutive wins against Clinton and Weatherford.

The Tigers will have their 4A district playoff Saturday at home against Chickasha.

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