Memorial fall in first-round action

Thursday afternoon began the 11th Annual Edmond Open Boys Tournament at North High School, and Santa Fe was the lone Edmond-squad to advance into the winner’s bracket after the Thursday night tilts. Hosting North started out the action with their marquee match-up that saw the Huskies meeting Lawton Eisenhower at 3:30 p.m. Ike claimed that opening game 66-37, relegating the Huskies to Friday and Saturday’s sunshine-league action. They did that, in part, when four of their athletes reached double-digit points against a lackadaisical North defense. Kinyon Parker led the Eisenhower attack with 13 points. Parker, joined by Kevin Farmer’s 12 points and 5 blocks, and another 11 points from both RJ Fisher and Antonio Gordon, saw that Ike gave North their third loss this season — tying their loss total from last year’s State Championship run. With a quartet of Eagles reaching double-digits, no single Husky was able to get North of Cooper Peterson’s 8 points when they struggled to score often enough on a 30-percent shooting night. Next, Memorial took the court against Midwest City, and, just like their North brothers, the Bulldogs struggled. The Bombers jumped out to a huge 26-5 lead midway through the second quarter, and looked poised to eliminate Memorial before halftime. Midwest City abused a zone-oriented Memorial defense throughout the first half, but an adjustment at intermission saw the Bulldog D extend out past the three-point arc and make a late-run at the contest. After the adjustment, Memorial’s Drew Tennial led the charge back. Tennial, who recorded a point-rebound double-double just after the fourth quarter began, had 11 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals in the comeback-attempt, but the Bombers made just enough to hold him off. Some of that “just enough” was their muzzling of Memorial’s leading scorer Peyton Caldwell. In the same gymnasium, and six days prior, Caldwell notched 20 points on 70 percent shooting. But, on Thursday, Midwest City held Caldwell scoreless on four shot attempts. Santa Fe then played Edmond-savior on Thursday, though, but not after a late scare by Muskogee. Tauriawn Knight came scorching at tipoff for the Wolves, riding a 17-point first-quarter to 21 first-half points overall. It looked like Knight, who wears the number one, was going to have a shootout with Muskogee’s number one, CJ Parks, after the latter had 17 first-half points of his own. The “one-on-one” battle would dissipate in the final two frames, though, as neither of the two scored a bucket until the final minutes of the second-half. In those points, Knight hit a mid-range two-pointer in traffic. Next trip down the floor, he buried a three that ended what little hope Muskogee had at an upset and allowed the Wolves to claim the 70-63 win. Thursday’s action means North will meet Muskogee at 3:30 p.m. Friday, and the best-possible outcome for the hosting Huskies is a 5 p.m. consolation-matchup on Saturday if they’re able to overcome the Roughers. For Memorial, they’ll now face-off against Norman after the Tigers missed a last-second shot against Northwest-Classen. Similar to North, the best-case scenario for the Bulldogs is a consolation-championship game. And, as for Santa Fe, their Open Championship hopes are still alive. Favored, coming into the tournament as the top-seed, they’ll have to claim a tilt against Lawton Ike — the Ike that almost-double North’s score on Thursday. If the Wolves can handle that, they’ll be set to meet one of the non-Edmond schools in the boy’s championship match.

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Edmond Memorial High School Athletics

MEMORIAL FALL IN FIRST-ROUND ACTION

AARON ALBERTSON

The Edmond Sun | 12/7/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Edmond Memorial High School Athletics