Big second half propels Crossings Christian past OCS
Cooper Gudell received the pass at half court and didn't have much time.
He quickly turned, looked at the basket and flung as hot. Then he paused, watching as the ball spiraled toward the rim, eventually falling in shortly after the sound of a buzzer overtook the arena.
Gudell's shot propelled the Class 3A sixth-ranked Crossings Christian boys basketball team to a huge second half in its 44-34 victory against No .6 Oklahoma Christian School on Friday. The basket gave the Knights a four-point lead heading to halftime, and they only expanded the margin after the break.
“More than anything, I just think it loosened everybody up,” CCS coach Shawn Schenk said. “We were kind of tight. We had shot six or seven air balls. But they just loosened up."
Gudell's shot wasn't the only buzzer beater.
To end the third quarter, Daniel Koonce grabbed a rebound and sprinted the length of the floor for a contested layup a second before the third quarter buzzer.
Koonce finished with 14 points, leading all scorers. Sophomore guard Reid Lovelace, who was playing with the flu, ended with nine points for the Knights (15-3). Guy Wood also tallied nine points.
Ethan Hodson led OCS (12-5) with eight points.
CHRISTIAN HERITAGE 77, SOUTHWEST COVENANT 69
Luke Masters grabbed the offensive rebound, and before his feet touched the ground, he laid the ball back up and watched it fall through the net.
After a back-and-forth battle through the first half , which s eparated Christian Heritage and Southwest Covenant by only three points, Masters' bucket gave the Crusaders a 10-point lead, heading into the fourth.
CHA celebrated it homecoming with a 77-69 win over Southwest Covenant Friday night at Jim Elliot Memorial Gymnasium.
“We wanted to do more defensively in the second half and we did i n the third quarter in about a four minute spurt,” CHA coach Heath Kufahl said. “That's a great win, we've had a tough schedule, we're trying to do everything we can to grind out wins and so we're proud of our guys on their effort.”
About half of CHA's games (8 of 17) have come against teams in the OSSAA top 20 rankings this season. Christian Heritage (8-9) will face another ranked opponent, Mount St. Mary, in its next contest.
DEL CITY 65, SHAWNEE 49
When Del City needed a big shot, the Eagles repeatedly turned to Demontreal Crutchfield.
The 6- foot -2 junior made four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points, leading Del City to a 65-49 victory at Shawnee on Friday night.
The Class 5A No. 1 Eagles went back and forth with Shawnee in an exciting first half.
Del City, which had a 34-25 lead at the break, pulled away in the second half. Crutchfield made three shots from behind the arc to lead the Eagles.
Del City (15-1) had several players contribute against the No .3 Wolves (12-4). Nathaniel Goodlow had 15 points, and Keyondre Young finished with 13.
Coach Lenny Hatchett was also quick to point out the impressive performance of Kyren Williams, who dominated in the post and finished with 10 points.
“When he gets some touches, it makes the defense kind of suck down,” Hatchett said. “Then, he kicks it out.”