Roland boys basketball coach Eddie Lewis guided his team to the Class 3A State Tournament for the 14th time this past weekend, and the second-ranked Runnin’ Rangers made it to the state title game for the third time in that stretch where they faced No. 1 Oklahoma City Millwood with the chance to do two things.

First, and more importantly, the Runnin’ Rangers could have ended up being the Class 3A state champions, but as a second treat they could not only knock off No. 1 Millwood but avenge last season’s state-quarterfinal loss to the Falcons. Unfortunately, none of it happened.

Thanks to a big second quarter by the Falcons, Millwood handed Roland an 83-41 loss in the Class 3A State Tournament finals, which took place last Saturday evening at O.G.&E. Coliseum, a.k.a. “The ‘New’ Big House,” in Oklahoma City.

The Runnin’ Rangers reached the state title game with a 51-44 state-semifinal victory over the Rejoice Christian Eagles last Friday night at the University of Oklahoma’s Lloyd Noble Center and a 68-43 rout of the Eufaula Ironheads in last Wednesday night’s state quarterfinals at O.G.&E. Coliseum.

The Runnin’ Rangers ended the season at 252, with their only losses coming to Millwood on Saturday and falling 5554 to archrival Muldrow on Jan. 31 at the Ranger Dome.

In last Saturday evening’s state title game against Millwood, trailing 16-14 with 5:50 left in the second quarter, the Falcons (27-2) ended the first half on a 23-5 run, capped by three free throws by Isaiah Wilks with 17 seconds left before halftime, to put Millwood ahead for good at 37-21 at the half, which was the biggest lead for the Falcons in the first 16 minutes of action.

The Falcons just continued soaring over the Runnin’ Rangers as Millwood got their lead to as great as 26 points in the third quarter as a free throw by Amari Barrett with 4:28 left in the third quarter put the Falcons ahead 5125 with 1:37 left in the period. Millwood took a 55-29 lead to the third quarter.

Millwood’s biggest lead of the evening came in the last minute of the contest as on two occasions the Falcons grabbed as high as a 45-point lead — the last time coming with 38 seconds left at 83-38 on a basket by Nate Jones Jr.

For those in attendance or watching the lifestream of the game, the first quarter gave no indication that the outcome would be what it ended up.

The game saw four ties and three lead changes as a basket by Cason Perryman with 31 seconds left in the first period knotted the game at 14-all entering the second quarter.

Another basket by Perryman put Roland head 16-14 with 5:50 left before halftime. It ended up being the last lead of the game — and of the season — for the Runnin’ Rangers.

In defeat, Damonte “Bubba” Owens scored 20 points to lead Roland, followed by Mason Kemp with eight points, Tae Smith with seven pots and Perryman with six points.

In last Friday night’s state-semifinal victory over Rejoice Christian, the Runnin’ Rangers led from start to finish, but that didn’t mean the Eagles (24-7), ranked sixth, did not make things interesting in the fourth quarter.

The Runnin’ Rangers scored the game’s first 10 points of the game, and Landon Fowler’s basket with seven-tenths of a second left in the first quarter put Roland ahead 18-6 after a period en route to a 26-13 halftime lead.

The Roland lead got to as high as 18 points in the third quarter at 31-13 with 6:39 left in the period on a 3-point basket by Kemp.

However, the Eagles flew their way back into the game as they cut their deficit to six points on two occasions in the third quarter, the last time at the buzzer as a 3-pointer by Kamieon Compton Nero cut Roland’s lead to 41-35 heading into the final period.

The Eagles cut their deficit to three points at 47-44 with 2:44 left to play on a basket by Zizi Okwuflueze, but that ended up being the final points of the season for Rejoice Christian.

The Runnin’ Tangers scored the game’s final four points — a basket by Kemp with 1:45 left and a pair of free throws by Raidyn Knight with 55 seconds remaining.

For the game, Owens scored a game-high 21 points to lead Roland, followed by Kemp with 16 points, Knight and Kade Shook with five points each and Fowler with four points.

In last Wednesday night’s state-quarterfinal victory over Eufaula, the Runnin’ Rangers broke open a tight game in the second half to knock off the ninth-ranked Ironheads, which was Roland’s first state-tournament win since 2018.

The Runnin’ Rangers got off to a fast start as they doubled the Ironheads (28-5) in the first quarter to the tune of 24-12.

However, the Ironheads made things interesting in the second quarter as they cut their deficit to 26-22 with about two minutes left before halftime. However, that was as close as they got.

The Runnin’ Rangers ended the first half with a 6-0 run to take a 3222 lead into the locker rooms at halftime.

It was the third quarter where the Runnin’ Rangers put away the game as they outscored the Ironheads 24-8 in the period, which was capped by a Kemp free throw with 1:15 left in the quarter to put Roland ahead 56-30 going into the final period.

The Runnin’ Rangers enjoyed as great as a 31-point lead twice in the fourth quarter, with the last time coming at 66-35 on a 3-point basket by Owens with 4:20 left to play.

Owens led all scorers with a game-high 23 points to lead Roland, followed by Knight with 12 points, Kemp and Perryman with 11 points each, Shook with seven points and Fowler and Bryson Myers with two points apiece.