Memorial holds on against Norman, grabs regional title

After jumping out to an early 15-0 lead, Edmond Memorial had to hold off a Norman comeback to claim a Class 6A Regional Championship. The Bulldogs rode a 23-point first quarter to beat the Tigers 52-41. After a disappointing defensive night on Friday for Memorial, they held Norman scoreless four minutes into the first, racking up 15 points in that span. “Almost a total flip of the night before” said Memorial head coach Shane Cowherd. “Offensively we struggled tonight to make shots that usually guys hit. But the good thing was we got back to our roots defensively. Anytime you hold a team to the forties in playoff basketball you give yourself a chance to win.” Senior Jake Thionnett started things off for the Bulldogs with an and-1 to give them the early advantage. Thionnett finished with 8 in the quarter, and 9 on the night. Freshman JV Seat scored 6 straight midway through the first, going 3-for-3 from the paint, and Drew Tennial capped the run off with a monster dunk. Tennial led all Bulldogs with 20 points. The Tigers finally got a 3-pointer to go to end the Bulldog run with 4:00 left in the quarter. After the huge first quarter, Memorial stalled, being outscored by Norman in both the second and third quarters. Leading the way for the Norman comeback was Ben Emmert, who nailed seven 3-pointers in the contest, and led all scorers with 27 points. After leading by as many as 16, Emmert scored eight straight points in the third quarter to bring the Tigers within nine. Tennial finished with six of Memorial’s only eight points in the third. Emmert nailed back-to-back 3’s in the fourth to bring Norman within four with five minutes left in the game. Memorial would finish on a 10-3 run, started off by a Seat layup and ending with eight straight points from Tennial. With 55 seconds left in the game, Tennial put an exclamation point on his 14-point second half by throwing down to give the Bulldogs a 52-40 lead. Coach Cowherd and the Bulldogs are still looking to improve before they continue their playoff run into area. “Moving forward, we understand what we have to do to get better.” he said. “That's the goal is to always be better and we’ve got a week to hopefully get better now before we have to play in an area title game.” Memorial will face off against Midwest City next week in the area finals.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Edmond Memorial High School Athletics

MEMORIAL HOLDS ON AGAINST NORMAN, GRABS REGIONAL TITLE

DEREK PARKER

Edmond Sun | 2/25/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Drew Harmon