The Muldrow Bulldogs find the only thing separating them from next week’s Class 4A State Tournament is one more win.
The ’Dogs handled the Broken Bow Savage 63-52 to win the Class 4A Regional Tournament on Saturday night at Roger Sharp Activity Center after defeating the Stilwell Indians 5831 in Thursday’s regional championship semifinal to give Muldrow its first win in three tries this season against their NOAA Conference rivals.
The Bulldogs (216) will meet Crossings Christian at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Seminole for the Class 4A Area Tournament title and a trip to next week’s state tournament at Oklahoma City’s Jim Norick State Fair Arena.
The Muldrow-Crossings Christian loser will have one more shot at making the Class 4A State Tournament by winning the area tournament consolation championship game at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday in Seminole.
The Lady Bulldogs also kept their basketball season alive by defeating their NOAA Conference and county rivals, the Sallisaw Lady Diamonds, 41-30 to win the Class 4A Regional Tournament consolation title game Saturday afternoon at Roger Sharp Activity Center.
The Lady Bulldogs lost their regional championship semifinal game 45-20 to Locust Grove on Thursday night at home, but they bounced back to down Wagoner 52-36 in Friday afternoon’s regional consolation semifinal contest at Roger Sharp Activity Center.
The Lady Bulldogs (19-9) will need to win all three games in Seminole at the Class 4A Area Tournament consolation portion of the bracket to make state. Muldrow will meet Glenpool at 6 p.m. Thursday in the area consolation quarterfinals, with the winner meeting the Broken Bow-HIlldale game at 1 p.m. Friday in the area consolation semifinals. Friday afternoon’s winner will meet the Locust Grove-Bethany loser at 6 p.m. Saturday for the area consolation championship and a trip to next week’s Class 4A State Tournament in Oklahoma City.
In the boys’ regional title game, the ’Dogs raced out to a 15-6 lead after a quarter and had as much as a 16-point lead in the second period at 30-14 after a free throw by D.J. Massey. Muldrow enjoyed a 3520 halftime advantage.
The Savages would not go away without a fight as they got their deficit down to five points at 46-41 with 5:38 left in the fourth quarter. That would be as close as the Savages got as the Bulldogs ended the game with a 17-11 run to seal the deal.
For the game, Muldrow put three players into double figures, led by Parker Sevenstar’s 16 points, while Massey and Teaguen Collins each added 14 points. Jesse Kilinc scored seven points, followed by DeShawn Willson with five points, Jaxson Anstine with three points and DeVohn Hall and E.J. Zanders with two points apiece.
In the boys regional championship semifinals, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 17-9 lead after a period, which became a 30-15 halftime advantage and a 43-18 lead going into the fourth quarter.
For the game, Muldrow had a trio of players reach double figures scoring, led by Collins with a game-high 18 points, followed by Anstine with 11 points and Kilinc with 10 points. Sevenstar scored six points, followed by Zanders with four points, Jermauree Palmer with three points and Hall, Massey and Wilson with two points apiece.
In the girls’ regional consolation championship game, it was a strong second half that lifted the Lady Bulldogs to their third win this season over the Lady Diamonds.
Leading 19-16 at halftime, the Lady Bulldogs doubled the Lady Diamonds 8-4 in the third quarter to up Muldrow’s advantage to 27-20 after three periods. Muldrow built as great as a 13-point lead on two occasions in the fourth quarter, the last time at 41-28 with 1:58 left to play in the game after a basket by Kayla Elalingberg.
For the game, Kayla Ellingberg and Maysi Fields scored a gamehigh 12 points to lead Muldrow, followed by Kilah Ellingberg with nine points, London Hardin with four points, Jensi Fields with three points and Danica Tune with a free throw.
In the girls’ regional consolation semifinals in a game between Lady Bulldogs, the Lady Bulldogs jumped out to an 8-3 lead after a quarter, which became a 26-10 halftime advantage.
Wagoner made a game of it in the third quarter as they opened the period with a 14-8 run to cut its deficit to 32-24 with 2:19 lead in the period, but Muldrow finished the third quarter ahead 36-26.
Wagoner made one more run at Muldrow as Wagoner opened the fourth quarter with a 5-2 run to cut the deficit to 38-31 with 6:41 left to play, but Wagoner got no closer as Muldrow ended the game with a 14-5 run to seal the deal.
For the game, Kayla Ellingberg scored 12 points and Maysi Fields added 10 points to lead Muldrow, followed by Hardin and Kilah Ellingberg with nine points each, Chloee Clark with seven points, Gracie Prewett with three points and Tune with two points.
In the girls’ regional championship semifinals, Class 4A’s fourthranked Lady Pirates showed the Lady Bulldogs why they’re in the top five.
Locust Grove jumped out to a 17-3 lead after a period en route to a 30-9 halftime advantage and a 38-13 lead going into the fourth quarter.
In defeat, Kilah Ellingberg scored five points to lead Muldrow, followed by Kayla Ellingberg and Maysi Fields with three points each, Prewett, Tune, Jensi Fields and Amarie Duran each with two points and Hardin with a free throw.
