Putnam City West tops Lawton Ike in wild finish
Putnam West sophomore
Rondel Walker only wanted a shot at redemption.
It was his blunder that had the Patriots trailing in the final seconds, and he had the basketball in his hand with time ticking away.
But he was too far from the basket.
He still shot the basketball hoping for a miracle. It came when he crashed into Lawton Eisenhower’s Kevin
Farmer and the whistle blew with 0.4 of a second remaining.
Trailing by one, Walker had his chance. He missed the first free throw. After making the next, he never felt nerves during a timeout. Instead, he calmly nailed the final one.
Class 6A No. 7-ranked Putnam West shocked Class 5A No. 4 Lawton Eisenhower 63-62 just seconds after the Patriots appeared to be the ones stunned.
“Letting my team down means more than a loss to me,” Walker said. “I just wanted to come up with big plays.”
Walker, who had 15 points, had fouled Lawton Eisenhower star Antonio
Gordon while shooting a 3 just six seconds earlier. Gordon made the go-ahead free throw that appeared to be the clincher.
Putnam West’s next possession looked like it was going nowhere until Walker fired his shot.
EDMOND SANTA FE TAKES CARE OF NORTH IN EDLAM
Edmond Santa Fe coach Josh Williams will admit it. Edlam just means more. So last time his Wolves squared off against Edmond North and lost 60-58, his guys took it personally.
“Credit to them that first game,” Williams said. “... Our guys were really fired up tonight.”
No. 6 Edmond Santa Fe (16-5) went on to secure a 80-72 victory against No. 19 Edmond North (11-10) on Senior Night and behind the work of its three star seniors.
Tauriawn Knight scored 19, Tyus Jeffries added 17 and Kamden Gipson finished with 15 to help lead the way for the Wolves.
Edmond Santa Fe built a 14-point lead going into halftime through tough defense, forcing several steals and grabbing long rebounds that lead to easy points on the offensive end.
While Edmond North ended up cutting Edmond Santa Fe’s lead to five points with four minutes left in the fourth quarter, the poised play of those three seniors helped steady the ship as the trio combined to scored the team’s final 10 points.
“They all lead in very different ways,” Williams said. “Those three set the standard on a daily basis and they put in the work to get us to where we want to be.
“They are tremendous.”
TIP-INS
JD Ray scored 39 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer as Midwest City beat Choctaw, 74-71 ...
Jonah Paden finished with 21 points on 8 of 10 shooting as Norman beat Moore, 55-45 ... Isaac Beverly scored 16 and Anthony
Goodlow added 14 as Del City defeated Lawton, 67-55