Kingfisher Pushes Past Blanchard To State Semis

<p>Kingfisher entered the State Tournament with the full expectation of returning to the State Title game to repeat their 2019 State Title. Blanchard entered the State Tournament with a plan to disrupt Kingfisher’s quest.</p> <p>While Blanchard was a major hurdle for Kingfisher through most of the game, Kingfisher’s star point guard, [player_tooltip player_id="535632" first="Bijan" last="Cortes"], turned things up in the fourth quarter with 10 fourth-quarter points, pushing the Yellowjackets past the Lions 46-34.</p> <p>Blanchard honestly wrote the blueprint for defeating Kingfisher: matching intense, active defense with intense, active defense. The only thing that stopped them was the pure fact that they didn’t have a player to match Kingfisher’s powerful punch of Cortes and [player_tooltip player_id="535628" first="Matthew" last="Stone"].</p> <p>After three quarters, Kingfisher outscored Blanchard 18-9 in the fourth quarter.</p> <p>Cortes finished with a game-high 22 points and four assists, while Stone scored nine.</p> <p>Blanchard’s Caleb Reed scored 11 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the free-throw line.</p> <p>Kingfisher will play Classen SAS on Friday morning in the State Semifinals.</p>