The winter storm canceled the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Tournament in Miami last weekend, so the Roland teams made a makeshift pair of games with the Oklahoma City Heritage Hall squads last Thursday night at the Ranger Dome.
In a blockbuster match-up of two of the top three teams in Class 3A, the second-ranked Runnin’ Rangers used a strong start to the second half and held off the third-ranked Chargers 72-68.
The girls’ game was a complete opposite as the Lady Rangers routed the Lady Chargers 69-31.
The Roland teams got the week of action started with a home sweep of the Quinton squads on Jan. 20 at the Ranger Dome as the Runnin’ Rangers routed the Savages 79-32, while the Lady Rangers got past the Lady Savages 57-23.
In the boys’ win over Heritage Hall, the atmosphere was that of like a state tournament game at the old “Big House” — the now imploded Jim Norick State Fair Arena — in Oklahoma City, and these two teams could very well meet up in this season’s Class 3A State Tournament, which will be played at the “New Big House” — the newly-built OG&E Coliseum.
The Roland student body and Ranger Bob were full of enthusiasm, and this game indeed was worth the price of admission.
With the game tied at 33-all at halftime, the Runnin’ Rangers (150) went on an 8-2 run to take a 41-35 lead on Kade Shook’s 3-point basket with 6:10 left in the third quarter. Roland would not trail again.
While Roland did not relinquish its advantage, the Chargers (13-2) made things very interesting in the fourth quarter.
The Chargers cut their deficit to two points on two occasions late, the last time coming at 70-68 with seven seconds left.
However, Shook, who was fouled with a second-plus left to play, made both free throws to seal the deal.
For the game, Damonte “Bubba” Owens led all scorers with a game-high 26 points, followed by Shook and Mason Kemp with 16 points each, Raidyn Knight and Landon Fowler each with six points and Cason Perryman with two points.
In the girls’ victory over Heritage Hall, the game was anything but close.
The Lady Rangers (10-3), winners of three straight since losing for the first time in three seasons to Sallisaw, took care of business early by scoring the game’s first 16 points to take a 16-0 lead with 3:55 left in the first quarter on back-toback 3-point baskets by Ryanne Nelke.
The Lady Chargers (7-8) finally scored at the 3:38 mark of the opening period on a basket by Sylvie Travis.
The Lady Rangers took a 23-5 lead into the second period, which became a 39-12 halftime advantage.
Roland’s lead got to as high as 39 points as a basket by Karsyn Serjeant with 2:27 left to play put the Lady Rangers ahead 67-28.
For the game, Nelke scored a game-high 31 points to lead Roland, followed by Halle Freeman with 15 points, Lillian Cole with nine points, Molly Carver with seven points, Serjeant with five points and Kaia Cantrell with two points.
In the boys’ victory over Quinton, the Runnin’ Rangers wasted little time in taking control of the game as they jumped out to a 27-10 lead after a quarter, which became a 49-21 halftime advantage and a 66-27 lead going into the final period.
For the game, Roland put a trio of players into double figures, led by Knight’s game-high 19 points, followed by Damonte “Bubba” Owens with 17 points and Kemp with 11 points. Tae Smith had eight points, followed by Shook with six points, Fowler and Josh Bower with four points each, Daxton Owens and Nathan Cheek each with three points and Perryman and Austin Benham with two points apiece.
In the girls’ win over Quinton, the Lady Rangers (9-3) came out of the corral and took control early, leading 15-7 after a quarter en route to a 28-10 halftime advantage and a 43-21 lead after three periods. Roland outscored Quinton 14-2 in the fourth quarter.
For the game, Roland put a quartet of players into double figures, led by Carver’s game-high 16 points, followed by Freeman’s 13 points, Cole’s 12 points and Nelke’s 11 points. Adriana Moya added five points.
