TOC Day Three – Live Coverage

<p><em><strong>Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!</strong></em></p> <p>One of the annual basketball traditions in late December is the Tournament Of Champions in Tulsa. It’s going to be great to have the TOC back after it was cancelled last season due to the pandemic. Prep Hoops Oklahoma will have wall to wall coverage of the event at the BOK Center. This year, the tournament field features three teams that are currently ranked #1 in their respective classes coming into the tournament. Jenks (6A), Memorial (5A), and Hydro-Eakly (A) are all atop their class rankings heading into this week. </p> <p>Stay tuned to Prep Hoops Oklahoma throughout the three days for live coverage. We’ll also be posting plenty about who is having a great tournament and which players are shining on the brightest stage in late December. And as always, you can follow all of the coverage on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/prephoopsok" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>@PrepHoopsOK</strong></a>.</p> <hr /> <h4><strong>SCHEDULE/RESULTS</strong></h4> <p><strong>Hydro-Eakly 51, Cashion 49 - 7th Place Game</strong><br /> Day three began with a bang on Wednesday in the seventh place game as Cashion fell to Hydro-Eakly 51-49. The Wildcats had a shot to tie the game with 2.5 seconds remaining. However, after missing the first free throw, it was intentional miss time. After a miss that didn’t hit rim, Hydro-Eakly would get the ball but .5 seconds came off the clock incorrectly. After Cashion got a turnover and made a shot right at the buzzer, because of the clock malfunction, the shot was whistled no good and the Bobcats escaped with the 51-49 victory.</p> <p>This game was close throughout and it ended that way as the Bobcats had three players finishing in double figures, led by Carson Propps, who finished with 16 points. Nolan Gore also had eight points and grabbed ten rebounds in the win. Cashion was led by [player_tooltip player_id="1142031" first="Austin" last="Frazier"], who could not miss on Wednesday morning. He led all scorers in the game and finished with 20 points on 8-13 shooting, including clutch baskets down the stretch to keep the Wildcats in the game. </p> <p>Hydro-Eakly came into the Tournament Of Champions with a 33-game winning streak that was snapped on Monday night to Memorial. They come out of it with a 1-2 record and some confidence going into the rest of their season as they try to repeat as Class A state champions. For Cashion, they’ll look to bounce back following the 0-3 tournament that featured close calls in all three games. </p> <hr /> <p><strong>Crossings Christian 60, Victory Christian 55 - 5th Place Game</strong><br /> Down two starters, Crossings Christian didn’t care if they were short handed as they knocked off Victory Christian 60-55 in the fifth place game on Wednesday afternoon. After sending the Knights to the fifth place game with his game-winning shot on Tuesday, freshman sensation Cal Furnish backed up that performance by leading the Knights with 21 points. The Knights would use hot shooting from three-point range to go up 30-26 at halftime. They went 6-12 from beyond the arc in the first half and shot 50% from the field for the game. </p> <p>Victory Christian stayed in the game throughout and would never be in danger of being blown out but the Knights were in control for the majority of this game. Senior star [player_tooltip player_id="1158048" first="Joshua" last="Udoumoh"] closed out his tournament with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds. Jude Malhi also added 12 points on four made three-pointers. Crossings head coach Shawn Schenk could not be more pleased about his team knowing the Knights were without star guard [player_tooltip player_id="955383" first="Reid" last="Lovelace"] and senior forward Drew Wood, who were both in walking boots on Wednesday. </p> <p>With Crossings Christian moving up to Class 4A after winning it all in 3A a year ago, it makes things even more interesting in Class 4A, especially in the top ten. In a class that has been dominated by the likes of Heritage Hall and Kingfisher in recent memory, this year, it appears to be completely wide open. </p> <hr /> <p><strong>Jenks 58, Owasso 56 - 3rd Place Game</strong><br /> In Wednesday’s third place game, it was a Frontier Conference battle between Jenks and Owasso. And it was an absolute battle as Jenks would knock off Owasso 58-56 behind a Seth Wilkins lay up with a little over seven seconds left. It didn’t look like it would be a battle after the first quarter as Jenks got out to a 17-7 lead and it looked like the Trojans could do no wrong. However, senior forward [player_tooltip player_id="955379" first="Chase" last="Martin"] would get into foul trouble in the second quarter and would have to sit for the majority of the period. That, combined with junior guard EJ Lewis starting to heat up, the Rams were able to climb back in the game and make it a one possession game going into halftime.</p> <p>Leading all scorers was Owasso’s [player_tooltip player_id="955380" first="Caden" last="Fry"], who finished with 20 points. Fry was also limited in the first half after sitting with two fouls early on. He scored 18 of his game-high 20 points after halftime on 8-10 shooting from the field. Lewis would chip in 15 points for the Rams and finished with 4 steals. For Jenks, [player_tooltip player_id="958389" first="Ben" last="Averitt"] would lead the Trojans with 17 points while Martin would finish with 13 points. </p> <p>The Trojans would bounce back after losing to Del City in overtime on Tuesday night. These two conference foes will meet again on January 18th. Both of these teams have state tournament aspirations and this very well could be a preview of an area championship or certainly a match-up deep into the playoffs. </p> <hr /> <p><strong>Del City 59, Memorial 49 - Championship Game</strong><br /> This game certainly had a big fight feel coming into it as #1 Memorial squared off with #3 Del City in what could be a preview of a state championship game in March. And Del City was able to come out with a 59-49 win to hand Memorial their first loss of the season and come out of the tournament with the tourney title. </p> <p>It certainly didn’t look like it was going to play out that way at the beginning of the game as Memorial came out and gave Del City everything they wanted and then some, leading 20-5 after the first eight minutes. From there, Del City would chip away and chip away, outscoring the Chargers by 25 points the following three quarters to get out of Tulsa with the 10-point victory. Forward [player_tooltip player_id="981287" first="Terry" last="McMorris"] led all scorers with 19 points and also grabbed 14 rebounds. Another double double came from junior center [player_tooltip player_id="1068562" first="Brandon" last="Garrison"], who finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds. </p> <p>But the engine that made the Del City motor go was junior guard Jaedon Foreman, who finished with 15 points and was a consistent and calming presence running the Del City offense. For Memorial, [player_tooltip player_id="955392" first="Tyreece" last="Frierson"] led the Chargers with 13 points and continued his fantastic start to his senior year with dazzling plays throughout the evening. However, the Chargers could not overcome Del City’s steady pressure, athleticism and shooting going away. </p> <p>If we do end up seeing these two teams again in March, sign me up. Round one went to the Eagles. Both will look completely different in two and a half months. </p>