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Sean Pedula (1) and Tate Mazza (12), Edmond Memorial -
Kris Frazier (3), Edmond North -
Kaysen Gipson (15), Edmond Santa Fe -
Carter Hjelmstad (5), Edmond Memorial
Joe Adams caught the pass from Colby Onyekuru and let one fly from the corner.
Adams’ late shot helped seal a 46-43 victory against Broken Arrow for the Edmond Santa Fe boys’ basketball team, joining Edmond Memorial and Edmond North in winning an opening-round game at the Edmond Open Tournament at Memorial on Thursday night.
Earlier in the day, North defeated Lawton 84-46 in the opening game. Memorial defeated Harding Charter Prep 108-40 in the second game.
In the lone game not involving an Edmond school, Kingfisher defeated Casady 71-59.
No. 13 Santa Fe (3-0) played the toughest opening opponent of any of the Edmond schools.
No. 7 Broken Arrow (0-2) raced out to an early lead, but a strong third quarter from the Wolves proved too much for the Tigers to overcome.
Santa Fe coach Troy Lallemand said games like this are why the Wolves came to the Edmond Open because they had to battle to win.
“(The Tigers) were just extremely physical,” Lallemand said. “I just think we stayed together and stayed mentally tough at the end, and we just did enough to win. We don’t cuss wins around here, and we’ll win ugly.”
Broken Arrow opened the game with an 11-0 run, forcing a Santa Fe timeout. The Wolves played better afterward and closed the gap to 24-20 at halftime.
Santa Fe came out of the locker room strong and outscored Broken Arrow 16-8 in the third quarter, giving the Wolves enough of a cushion to hold on at the end.
No. 3 Edmond North (2-0) never trailed in a strong performance against Lawton
Lawton (0-2) scored fewer points total, 46, than the Huskies scored in the first half, 49.
North coach Scott Norris said the Huskies have a lot of depth but are still learning how to play together.
“With only having two scrimmages and postponing our first two games, we’re still learning,” Norris said. “We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well. We got a lot of easy buckets inside. We just had (Lawton) outsized.”
No. 1 Memorial (2-0) had the most dominant performance of the night as the Bulldogs took on a 4A opponent.
Harding (1-4) kept it somewhat close early, trailing 26-14 after the first quarter. However, Memorial held the Eagles to 14 over the next two quarters as the Bulldogs pulled away.
Memorial junior Gabe Seat led the Bulldogs with 16 points at halftime, while senior Sean Pedula had 15. Neither scored in the second half, primarily because the Bulldogs did not need them. The starters sat midway through the third quarter and let the others take over.
Memorial coach Shane Cowherd said being able to give the depth players significant minutes in the second half is more helpful now than ever.
“Our sophomores lost so much time that they would typically have gotten last spring,” Cowherd said. “Being able to be in those positions against some opposition that is live and trying to do some of the stuff that we do on our floor is crucial for us to be able to start growing in this COVID year, and we gotta keep on trying to find moments like that, because in COVID, you never know, this could be it. You never know when our next one is going to be, so we wanted those guys to be able have the opportunity to grow as much as possible.”
North will face Kingfisher in the second round Friday, while Memorial and Santa Fe will go head-to-head in an Edlam showdown. If North wins its game, the championship game Saturday will also be Edlam.