6A No. 1 Jenks ....................... (5-0).... 59

Jenks coach Clay Martin does not mind when his 6-foot-7 center Vince Boncaldo steps outside to fire a 3-pointer. Boncaldo showed why he gets the green light from beyond the arc as he drilled a go-ahead trey late in the third quarter of the 42nd annual Cherokee Nation Enterprises Schoolboy Tournament of Champions title game on Saturday night. The 3-pointer sparked the Class 6A top ranked Trojans to a 59-49 victory over 6A No. 4 Midwest City before an estimated crowd of 4,000 at Expo Square Pavilion. “Since he was a freshman I have told him he better not turn down any open 3s,” Martin said. “He has made a lot of big shots for us.” Boncaldo, who also made the game-winning basket with 41 seconds left in the semifinals, had 17 points and 10 rebounds to help Jenks (5-0) become the first team since Booker T. Washington in 1981 and 1982 to win consecutive T of C titles. “I only take those (treys) when I am open, ” Boncaldo said. “That was a big momentum swing for us to take the lead (39-38) going into the fourth quarter.” Jenks slowly pulled away during the final eight minutes. Nick Sidorakis scored nine of his 15 points in the fourth quarter. Midwest City was hampered when its star, Xavier Alexander, fouled out with four minutes left. Alexander, who scored 58 points in the first two games of the tourney, finished with only nine against Jenks. Despite the loss of Alexander, the Bombers did not go down easily. A steal and lay-up by James Davis followed by a Chuck Sanders free throw kept Midwest City within 50-46 going into the final minute. Jenks, however, wrapped up the win by sinking 9-of-10 free throws during the rest of the game. Sanders led Midwest City with 13 points. Midwest City led 30-27 at halftime and increased its advantage to 38-32 midway through the third quarter before Jenks battled back. “Our biggest frustration thus far this season has been our defense and our rebounding on the first shot,” Martin said. “Each game we are getting better. We rebounded real well in the second half and limited their second chance points compared to the first half.” Bryson Pope was another Jenks standout with 18 points and 10 rebounds. “A lot of people didn’t think we could win this again, but we pulled through at the end,” Pope said. “There was a lot of intensity out there.”

3A No. 3 Tahlequah Sequoyah.... (7-1).... 73

2A No. 2 Pawnee....................... (6-2).... 63

Highlights: In the third-place game,  Chris Little scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Indians comeback from a 41-25 halftime deficit. Pawnee guard Keiton Page scored 37 points, but was held to five in the fourth quarter. James Factor had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Sequoyah.

Keys: Sequoyah opened the fourth quarter with a 20-1 run after trailing 53-41. A Little basket with 4:07 left gave the Indians a 54-53 lead they never relinquished. Sequoyah sank 10-of-12 free throws in the fourth quarter, including 7-of-8 by Zac Goodrich while Pawnee made 5-of-11.

Quotable: “I think we might have been dead-legged in the first half after playing Jenks (on Friday night), but in the second half I think our depth might have worn them down a little bit and we played better defense.” — Sequoyah coach Larry Grigg.

5A No. 2 East Central............ (6-1)........63

Keys: For the third straight day, Victory fell into a large early hole. Ken Holdman had 10 of his 13 points in the first quarter to spark East Central to a 21-5 lead. Victory, however, cut its deficit to 37-35 going into the fourth quarter. Corey Taylor opened the fourth with a trey and after Crawford sank 1-of-2 free throws, Hadnott scored nine during an 11-0 run that broke the game open. Victory had only one basket in the final eight minutes.

B No. 1 Stringtown........... (11-4)........... 82

3A No. 1 Verdigris............ (7-3)............ 71

Keys: Clarke was held to four points and missed his first nine shots before connecting for his first basket with 3:08 left in the third quarter.

Quotable: “Keegan Heard did a great job on him (Clarke). But I think the war of the previous two days also had something to do with that. But Clarke is a great player and you know he is going to get his points.” — Stringtown coach Dirk Walden.

STATISTICS

JENKS 59, MIDWEST CITY 49

MWC 16 14 8 11 — 49

Jenks 15 12 12 20 — 59

Midwest City (9-1): Sanders 13, Alexander 9, Clanton 9, McDaniel 9, West 5, Davis 4.

EAST CENTRAL 63, VICTORY CHRISTIAN 42

Victory Christian (7-3): Crawford 20, Stewart 12, Houston 6, Wilson 2, Pernell 2.

STRINGTOWN 82, VERDIGRIS 71

Jenks...................................................60

Tahlequah Sequoyah........................... 55

Highlight: After a timeout with 50 seconds remaining, Jenks broke the Sequoyah press as Nick Sidorakis passed to Boncaldo, who banked in a short shot as he made contact with Kyle Littlehead, who was called for the foul. Boncaldo then sank the free throw to put Jenks ahead 58-55. “I heard the whistle and thought they might call charging,” Boncaldo said. “I didn’t know who the foul was on until (Sean) Lisooey chest bumped me.”

Keys: Sidorakis and teammate Bryson Pope had 15 points each.

Notes: Sequoyah had 10 3-pointers, including four from Mike Soap, who had a team-high 12 points.

Quotable: “We have three or four legitimate options to go to in the last minute and Vince is one of those. He might get overshadowed sometimes by Nicky and Bryson, but Vince also is a big-time player.” — Jenks coach Clay Martin.

Midwest City...................................... 77

Pawnee.............................................. 57

Highlight: The Pawnee bench received a technical when Black Bears standout Keiton Page was called for his fourth foul with 3:30 left in the third period, and Midwest City followed with 11 consecutive points for a 55-37 lead.

Notes: The combination of Jarrod McDaniel’s defense and foul trouble hampered Page, who was held to 17 points — 12 below his three-year average.

Quotable: “McDaniel wanted that assignment and matched up well against him.” — Midwest City coach Rodney Dindy.

Victory Christian................................. 76

Verdigris............................ OT........... 64

Keys: Robert Crawford finished with 34 points and 12 rebounds to lead the 4A Conquerors (7-2), who trailed 52-31 with six minutes left.

Notes: Rotnei Clarke led Verdigris (7-2) with 38 points and 10 rebounds.

Quotable: “When we were down by 21, I was thinking about having a short practice after the game at our gym, running our players to make a point. It was an unbelievable comeback.” — Victory coach Ryan Wakley.

East Central.........................................81

Stringtown...........................................67

Keys: Sidney Hadnott scored 19 of his 26 points in the first half to power the 5A No. 2 Cardinals (5-1) to a 45-21 lead.

Quotable: “The first half was the best we’ve played this season.” — East Central coach Brian Morgan.

JENKS 60, TAHLEQUAH-SEQUOYAH 55

Tahlequah Sequoyah (6-1): M.Soap 12, Goodrich 11, L.Soap 8, Little 8, Littlehead 7, Travis 5, Factor 3, Morrison 1.

MIDWEST CITY 77, PAWNEE 57

Midwest City (9-0): Alexander 32, Sanders 16, McDaniel 12, Clanton 10, Nelson 3, Davis 2, West 2.

VICTORY CHRISTIAN 76, VERDIGRIS 64, OT

Verdigris (7-2): Clarke 38, Schultz 8, Brown 6, Hollon 5, Sam 4, Smith 2, Overholt 1.

EAST CENTRAL 81, STRINGTOWN 67

For the first time since 1974, two smaller classification teams are in the Tournament of Champions semifinals. On Thursday, Keiton Page had 20 points and 11 assists to help lead Class 2A No. 2 Pawnee past 4A No. 1 Victory Christian 65-62 at Expo Square Pavilion.

In the last game, 3A No. 3 Tahlequah Sequoyah outlasted 5A No. 2 East Central 70-61. Lance Soap and Mike Soap had 14 points apiece for Sequoyah.

There almost was a third small-school team in the semifinals, but Xavier Alexander scored 26 to help 6A No. 4 Midwest City edge 3A No. 1 Verdigris 63-60.

Bryson Pope had 21 points and 12 rebounds to propel 6A No. 1 Jenks over Class B No. 1 Stringtown 78-54 in the other opener.

In the semifinals, Midwest City (8-0) faces Pawnee (6-0) at 7 p.m., followed by Jenks (3-0) against Tahlequah Sequoyah (6-0) at 8:30. “The good thing about being the little man is there is not much pressure,” Sequoyah coach Larry Grigg said. “You just go play. Jenks has a great team. There is no pressure on us.” Sequoyah, in 2003, had been the last previous small-school team to win in the first round.

In losers bracket games Friday, Victory plays Verdigris at 2 p.m. and Stringtown faces East Central at 3:30 p.m.

Nick Bell and Jonas Lyons added 13 points for Pawnee. Lyons scored the tie-breaking basket on a pass from Page with 1:37 left. Page sank two clinching free throws with 15 seconds remaining. “We have quite a few who can score,“ Page said. “A lot of people don’t know we have other shooters. We have a lot of shooters who can step up and hit 3s.”

Robert Crawford paced the Conquerors with 18 points and 11 rebounds. “We didn’t play as a team,” Victory coach Ryan Wakley said. “Pawnee was the better team today and deserved to win.” Pawnee scored the game’s first 15 points and led 28-14 before the Conquerors (6-2) used their pressure defense to get back in the game with a 17-4 run. Victory pulled ahead 51-45 late in the third quarter before Pawnee rallied. Keiton Page sank 6-of-6 free throws in the fourth quarter. “It was a good dogfight,” Pawnee coach David Page said.

The Black Bears played without starting junior forward Kyle LeGrand, who is out 7-to-10 days with a dislocated shoulder. Pawnee has won three straight T of C games dating back to last year. “But the fourth one is going to be the toughest,” David Page said.

East Central rallied with eight straight points to cut the Sequoyah lead to 62-59 with 1:40 remaining before Kyle Littlehead answered for Sequoyah with consecutive baskets. “Kyle struggled the whole game shooting until those two big shots,” Grigg said. Ken Holdman scored 16 points for East Central.

Alexander scored 12 in the third quarter to turn a 32-27 halftime deficit to a 46-42 lead. Rotnei Clarke scored 16 of his game-high 31 points in the fourth quarter for Verdigris, which led 30-20 late in the second quarter. Verdigris (7-1) trailed the entire fourth quarter, but by never more than five points. During the period, the Cardinals missed several shots that could have tied the game or given them the lead. “We lost the game in the second and third quarters, more than in the fourth,” Verdigris coach Kelly Clarke said. “We got impatient three or four possessions in a row late in the second quarter and we go into halftime up by five instead of 10.” Jarrod McDaniel sank 5-of-6 free throws in the final 30 seconds to help the Bombers hang on to the victory. After his last two free throws with two seconds left, the Bombers intercepted a pass to end the game.

Nick Sidorakis added 19 points for the Trojans. “We played an OK game,“ Jenks coach Clay Martin said. “We weren’t terrible and we didn’t play great.“ Jenks led 47-40 midway through the third quarter before breaking the game open. James Watson led Stringtown (10-3) with 15 points.

STATISTICS

JENKS 78, STRINGTOWN 54

Jenks 14 21 20 23 — 78

Stringtown 12 17 12 13 — 54

Jenks (3-0): Pope 21, Sidorakis 19, Ballard 13, Boncaldo 11, Twilley 7, Lisooey 4, Johnston 3.

Stringtown (10-3): Watson 15, Washington 11, O.Brown 9, E.Brown 7, Heard 5, McGee 5, Smith 2.

PAWNEE 65, VICTORY CHRISTIAN 62

Victory 6 27 18 11 — 62

Pawnee 18 20 11 16 — 65

Victory Christian (6-2): Crawford 18, Agbasi 12, Houston 11, Stewart 10, Petit 7, Wilson 2.

Pawnee (6-0): Page 20, Bell 13, Lyons 13, Abington 12, Wensler 4, Green 3.

MIDWEST CITY 63, VERDIGRIS 60

Midwest City 13 14 19 17 — 63

Verdigris 14 18 10 18 — 60

Midwest City (8-0): Alexander 26, McDaniel 14, Clanton 10, West 6, Sanders 4, Davis 3.

Verdigris (7-1): Clarke 31, Hollon 8, Schultz 7, Overholt 6, Brown 4, Sam 4.

TAHLEQUAH-SEQUOYAH 70, EAST CENTRAL 61

T. Sequoyah 14 17 19 20 — 70

East Central 12 16 13 20 — 61

Tahlequah Sequoyah (6-0): L. Soap 14, M. Soap 14, Goodrich 10, Little 8, Factor 7, Travis 7, Littlehead 6, Morrison 2, Bark 2.