Class 3A State Tournament Preview

<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/03/3A-Boys-1.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-1402889 size-large" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/03/3A-Boys-1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" /></a> On Wednesday 8 teams from all over Oklahoma will enter the Big House at the State Fairgrounds, with one goal. Capture the Gold Ball. A new champion is guaranteed as last year’s Class 3A champion, Crossing Christian is now in the Class 4A State Tournament. Oklahoma Christian and Millwood enter as the top ranked teams in the Class, but March Madness always brings upsets. Especially as the opening round of the State Tournament features a rematch of the 2019 State Title game with Kingston against Millwood. It all makes for an exciting week of basketball in Oklahoma City. THE MATCH UPS #4 Marlow (21-3) vs #7 Roland (16-8) Wednesday - 4:30 PM - The Fairgrounds HOW THEY GOT HERE Marlow: The Outlaws have been a dominant force in the playoffs. They opened with blowout victories over Harding Fine Arts (65-24), Lone Grove (43-27) and Jones (69-43). In the Area Championship they won a lower scoring game, 41-33 over Bethel. Roland: The month of February was a tough one for the Rangers. They struggled to close out conference play, as they lost four straight to end the regular season. They righted the ship in the playoffs with wins over Eufaula (61-58) and Valliant (42-38). This set up an Area Championship meeting with Oklahoma Christian. Roland was on the wrong side of that result but they bounced back the next night with a 53-49 win over Crooked Oak to make the State Tournament. THE PLAYERS Marlow: Three double digits scorers make the Outlaws a tough team to stop. Especially as junior [player_tooltip player_id="1211249" first="Avery" last="Payne"] and senior Josiah Johnson are both 6’5. Payne averages 12.0 points per game and Johnson scores 16.2 a game. The third player in double figures is the hero from their State Champion Football team, Jace Gilbert. The future Iowa State Cyclone will be looking to bring one more State Championship back to his southwestern Oklahoma town. Roland: One of the more balanced teams in the field, they have four players in double figures. Senior Bryce Medicinebird averages 12 point a game as the leading scorer. But Jenior Tuvaris Noonan and sophomore Carson Wiggins are right behind him with both at 11 points a game. Medicinebird, Noonan and Wiggins all stand 6 foot 3 or taller. The fourth double digit scorer is junior Peyton Whisenant at 10 points game. #18 Kingston (20-7) vs #2 Millwood (19-6) Wednesday - 6:00 PM - The Fairgrounds HOW THEY GOT HERE Kingston: A match up against 6th ranked Prague opened up the playoffs for Kingston, which Kingston won comfortably 64-47. But a 51-48 loss to Bethel sent Kingston into the consolation bracket in Area. At Area, they picked up double digit victories over Frederick (59-37) and Prague (59-37). Then on Saturday night, they had a chance at revenge. It took 4 overtimes, but Kingston prevailed 64-55 over Bethel to make the State Tournament. Millwood: The playoffs have seen the Falcons soar to new heights. In all four of their playoff games they have won by double digits. Millwood’s average margin of victories in the playoffs is 25 points, with the closest game coming in Area with a 64-52 win over Westville, which avenged a playoff defeat from last year. THE PLAYERS Kingston: 6 foot 5 senior [player_tooltip player_id="1164870" first="Brady" last="Brister"] is the top scorer for Kingston with an average of 14.1 points per game. He’s one of four senior starters for an experienced group that will be looking to follow in the footsteps of their school’s 2019 State Championship team. The only other starter in double figures is the one non-senior starter. 6 foot 7 sophomore Reid Cason averages 10.3 points per game. Millwood: The Falcons have one of the deepest teams in the field. Dynamic football recruit and basketball floor general [player_tooltip player_id="967381" first="Rickey" last="Hunt"] leads the way with 12.3 points per game in the starting lineup. Senior starters Jaylen Dillard and Kobe Law both average 10.1 points per game. The state’s top freshman [player_tooltip player_id="1391439" first="Jaden" last="Nickens"] comes off the bench and leads a talented second unit. #1 Oklahoma Christian School (22-5) vs Vinita (22-7) Wednesday - 7:30 PM - The Fairgrounds HOW THEY GOT HERE Oklahoma Christian School: The top ranked Saints are marching into the Big House on a high note. All four of their playoff victories have been by double digits, including a 33 point thrashing of 7th ranked Roland. 22 points is the average margin of victory for the Saints in the playoffs. Vinita: The only unranked team in the field, the Hornets are a program that had to undergo the winter weather created gauntlet of 5 wins in 6 days to make the State Tournament. Metro Christian defeated Vinita 65-44 in Districts. In Regionals, they took care of business against Tahlequah Sequoyah and avenged their loss to Metro Christian. An overtime victory over Rejoice Christian opened their Area play. Then narrow wins over Morris and Westville punched their ticket to the Big House. THE PLAYERS Oklahoma Christian School: Super sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="1367214" first="Luke" last="Gray"] is the dominant force for the Saints. He’s averaging 20 points a game and has put up some huge numbers this season. A 6 foot 6 strong and athletic forward, he’ll be attacking and protecting the rim with authority, while also showing improved touch on his jumper. Sharpshooting senior Jon McKee is the next highest scorer for OCS at 8 points per game. Vinita: Junior guard Paul Glasscock leads a balanced scoring Hornets squad with 15.5 points per game. No other Hornet is in double figures, senior Cain Anderson is next up with 9.4 points per game. While junior Nolan Martins provides a scoring punch off the bench with a 9.1 scoring average.   #14 Community Christian (21-8) vs #13 Washington (19-8) Wednesday - 9:00 PM - The Fairgrounds HOW THEY GOT HERE Community Christian: After opening districts with a 67-50 win over Meeker, a 62-53 loss to Purcell left the Royals with a big challenge. They had to win 5 games in 6 days to make the Class 3A State Tournament. They beat Newkirk and Luther to make it out of Regionals, then took down Hennessey and top 10 Claremore Sequoyah to make it 4 wins in 5 days. The 5th team at the end of the gauntlet? A rematch with Purcell. Late game heroics allowed Community Christian to win 49-48 to avenge their loss to Purcell and punch their ticket to the State Tournament. Washington: The Warriors are playing their best basketball at the right time. They won four straight games to march into the state tournament. Chisholm was the first team they dispatched, an easy 75-45 win. Perry pushed them as Washington only won 63-61. Then double digit victories over Hennessey (42-27) and #10 Purcell 51-36 booked their ticket to state. THE PLAYERS Community Christian: The late game heroics that propelled Community Christian to the State Tournament came from their leading scorers on the year. Senior Cade Bond scored 29 points in their victory including a late go ahead score. Then junior [player_tooltip player_id="1031291" first="Bai" last="Jobe"], one of the top football recruits in the state, sealed the win with a powerful block. Jobe is averaging 17 points a game on the year, while Bond is at 14 points a game. Collin Bond, a sophomore is the next top scorer, with 9 points a game. Washington: Junior guard Hayden Hicks is the only Warrior averaging double figures at 12 points a game. The other junior guard to watch for Washington is Cash Andrews. He averages 8 points a game but more importantly sets up his teammates with 4 assists per game. Senior post player Kobe Scott stands 6 foot 5 and averages 8 points and 5 rebounds a game.