Carlson: Dale's rout in Class 2A basketball quarterfinal gives reserves a day to remember
The fans from Dale had a request as the third quarter came to an end.
“We want Kol-ton!” they chanted. “We want Kol-ton!”
The Dale boys basketball team had already been playing its deep reserves for more than a quarter — yes, a bunch of the third-stringers got into the state quarterfinal against Wister in the second quarter — but the Pirate faithful wanted more.
They wanted Kolton Barnell.
When the little-used senior made his way toward the scorer’s table at the quarter break, the crowd went wild. And midway through the fourth when Barnell hit a basket, you’d have thought Dale had won the state title.
More on that strong possibility in a bit.
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On a day the Class 2A state basketball tournament tipped off at State Fair Arena, there was no more eye-popping result than Dale’s demolition. It wasn’t the biggest margin of victory in state tournament history, but it could have been. Dale led by 40 points in the second quarter.
The Pirates could’ve named their margin of victory.
Instead, Dale coach Jeff Edmonson gave his bench extensive playing time.
“These guys work just as hard in practice,” he said. “They spend time out there. They cheer on their teammates. It’s a really good group. They all support each other.
“So it’s great to reward those guys.”
And not just second-string guys, reserves who regularly give the starters a breather. Edmonson leaned heavily on the players at the end of his bench.
He had no plan to do so. Even though Dale is undefeated and practically untested ― this is a team that looks like it could complete in just about any classification, much less Class 2A, having won by an average of 29.8 points this season with more wins by 50-plus (five) than by single digits (three) ― Edmonson never thinks about what he’ll do if the Pirates blow open a game.
“I go into every game very nervous,” he said with a chuckle, “especially when I look down the other side and I think, ‘Man, these guys are bigger than us. We’re gonna have a hard time.’”
But then Tuesday, Dale started doing Dale things. It opened up a 26-3 lead at the end of the first quarter, despite not scoring for the first 2½ minutes of the game. It expanded that lead to 48-8 with a little less than three minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Edmonson sent in the first wave of reserves, and they just kept coming.
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While Dale’s starters played a few minutes at the start of the second half, nearly all of the final half of the game was played by Dale’s reserves. And the final quarter was almost all end-of-the-bench players.
At state, such a thing is almost unheard of.
Deep reserves usually only see the court at state at the very end of the game. Lots of times, they check in with seconds left in an already-decided game. A coach sends them in to make sure they get a little bit of playing time and are listed in the boxscore.
That wasn’t the case for Dale.
A bunch of its reserves got to have a highlight at state. Jaxon Wamock had a backcourt steal that led to a breakaway lay-up. Maddox Caldwell battled for an offensive rebound that led to Casen Richardson beating the buzzer with a basket at the end of the third quarter. Barrett Clark scored on a runout after a Wister turnover.
“It really meant a lot to us,” said Clark, a senior reserve who played almost 10 minutes and scored five points. “We love cheering on our team, always watching.”
But …
“Getting out there to go play in such a big arena and just The Big House? I mean, it’s just really something special.”
Players like Clark and Barnell, who is also a senior, always talk during the game about whether they might get to play.
“That’s pretty much every game,” Barnell admitted with a smile. “We try to keep it on the down low.”
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But when the bench gets cleared, nothing is understated on the Dale side. The regulars hoot and holler for every big play.
“We love all the guys,” said Dale star Dayton Forsythe, one of three Pirates to score in double digits Tuesday. “We’re one big family, and it’s a lot of fun to get to cheer them on for a chance.”
Forsythe said the bench’s support is never taken for granted.
“Our bench is the best there is,” he said, “and it was fun to switch sides and cheer them on.”
And cheer, they did. They cheered most wildly for Barnell.
When he fired up his first 3-point attempt, everyone on the Dale bench sprung to their feet, only to sit again in disappointment after the shot bounded off. A few minutes later when Barnell had another look, this one more wide open than the first, the bench again sprung up, only to sit again in disappointment.
Three more times, the same thing happened.
Then, finally, from the right wing, Barnell drained a 3-pointer and prompted pandemonium on the Dale side. On the bench, players jumped and high-fived and hugged. Starter Levi Kelly even fell to his knees as he pumped his fists over his head in celebration.
Why all the love for Barnell?
“He’s just a great guy,” Forsythe said, “and we all love him.”
In the game’s final seconds, everyone got a glimpse at why Barnell got lots of big cheers. Wister sent its own end-of-the-bench player, Braeden Gerdes, into the game, and his teammates made it clear they badly wanted him to get a basket, feeding him the ball again and again.
After he missed a couple, the ball was rebounded by Barnell. Without hesitating, he tossed it back out to Gerdes.
A few attempts later, Gerdes’ shot from behind the arc bounced around the rim, then fell through, setting off a huge celebration on both sides. Folks from Dale were cheering as loud as folks from Wister.
It was a day for the reserves.
A day to remember.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma HS basketball: Dale blowout gives bench a day to remember
