PC North Wins Showdown With Douglass
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Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy! It was the first round of the Joe Lawson Invitational in Norman but it sure felt like a championship game as Putnam City North squared off…
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It was the first round of the Joe Lawson Invitational in Norman but it sure felt like a championship game as Putnam City North squared off with Douglass and walked away with the 73-63 victory. The Panthers jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and would go back and forth with the Trojans from there. This game turned into a shootout real quick and then a free throw contest down the stretch. Both teams played aggressive and the Panthers would hold off the Trojans to get the impressive win on Thursday evening.
Senior guard Zander Baker Zander Baker 5'10" | PG Norman | 2023 State OK would get off to a hot start in the first half. He had 20 points as the Panthers jumped out to a 33-24 win after two quarters. Baker could not miss in the first two quarters and finished with a game-high 26 points on the night. He was joined by fellow senior CJ Smith CJ Smith 6'7" | SF Putnam City North | 2023 State OK in the second half to finish off the job. Smith would finish with 24 points on the night, scoring 15 in the second half. Douglass senior Terry McMorris Terry McMorris 6'5" | SF Douglass | 2023 State OK would finish with 26 points for the Trojans. Below, we take an in-depth look at the top performers from both teams from Thursday evening’s games.
PUTNAM CITY NORTH TOP PERFORMERS
The first of two outstanding senior performances from PC North was CJ Smith CJ Smith 6’7″ | SF Putnam City North | 2023 State OK , going for 24 points in the win on Thursday. Smith would score in a variety of ways and even though his shot wasn’t falling early on, he kept at it and had an explosive second half. 15 of his 24 points came after halftime and he started heating up from beyond the arc and was able to convert on his opportunities at the free throw line. Smith is coming off a performance last week where he was literally perfect from the field. He wasn’t perfect on Thursday but you could see that once he started heating up, it wouldn’t take very long. He took over in the second half and did a great job finishing.
Putnam City North senior guard Zander Baker Zander Baker 5’10” | PG Norman | 2023 State OK led all scorers with 26 points on the afternoon. He would have 20 in the first half and it was that performance in the first two quarters that put Putnam City North up an they were able to hold off several different Douglass runs. Baker was red hot from the field and it felt like everything he put up was going in. His trigger was incredibly quick as he got up his shot in the blink of an eye. He was doing it at all three levels on the floor. He could finish at the rim, hit the mid-range shots and was lights out from the perimeter. He slowed down in the second half but the combination of Baker and Smith was hard for Douglass to stop on Thursday.
DOUGLASS TOP PERFORMERS
The only non-senior on this breakdown is Douglass sophomore Davon Scott Davon Scott 6’2″ | CG Douglass | 2025 State OK . The sophomore was mainly a shooter on Thursday and the shot started falling and Scott heated up in a big way. He would finish with 20 points on the afternoon with 14 points coming after halftime. Scott didn’t start the third quarter but the Trojans put Scott in very early following halftime and he immediately started knocking down shots. He provides such an interesting dynamic on this Douglass team with his ability to shoot it from just about everywhere. A lot of attention was on McMorris yesterday and when he would drive to the basket, the defense would crash down, leaving Scott some open jumpers throughout the day.
Douglass senior Terry McMorris Terry McMorris 6’5″ | SF Douglass | 2023 State OK was right there with Baker for the game-high in points with 26 points on the afternoon. McMorris had a complete game on both sides of the ball. He was excellent as an on-ball defender and came away with several impressive blocked shots on the day. McMorris also had a complete performance on the offensive side. He had just about everything working for him throughout the game. He scored 15 of his 26 points in the second half. McMorris lived at the free throw line after being aggressive. He would finish 11-19 from the charity stripe. He left some points on the free throw line but he was a big reason that the Trojans remained in the game and made several runs.