Class 2A boys basketball: Dale, Oklahoma Christian Academy will meet in state final

The Class 2A boys basketball state tournament semifinals were held Friday at State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City. Here's what happened.

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Oklahoma Christian Academy 72, Preston 70

Carson Thomas came out of the timeout feeling the pressure of the moment.

Oklahoma Christian Academy had lost an 18-point halftime lead and a 17-point fourth-quarter lead. Preston had scored 28 fourth-quarter points, ending with a deep Jervais Goree 3-pointer to send the game to overtime.

Standing there, Thomas was without his second-leading scorer Ca’Ron Banks who had gone down with an apparent lower-leg injury. He had the weight of the meltdown on his shoulders and all the momentum was on Preston’s side.

“I was a little nervous,” Thomas said.

Although the fourth quarter was filled with fireworks of hot shooting and steals from Preston. OCA held Preston to just two points in overtime. And the chance to win was there for the taking with 15 seconds left in a tie game.

Thomas ran around a screen to get a smaller defender on him and caught the ball in the lane. He took a power dribble and then rose over two Preston defenders with a shot. The ball hit the back of the rim twice and then bounced out and the Eagles fans screamed as they thought their chance was blown.

Just 3.8 seconds remained.

Thomas didn’t give up on the play and rose back up for an offensive rebound. Before his feet hit the ground, Thomas dropped the ball through the cylinder and the final horn sounded. Thomas was stormed at half court as the Eagles hadn’t just escapedwhat could have been a historical meltdown. They had made history.

With Thomas’ game-winning layup, Oklahoma Christian Academy edged Preston 72-70 in overtime to send the Eagles to the Class 2A state championship for the first time in school history.

“These guys have been working hard for four years,” Oklahoma Christian Academy coach Jeremy Roman said. “A great team effort from not only the guys in the locker room but the guys in the past. I couldn’t be more proud. They’ve been working really hard to get to this point, and I’m so proud that they get to experience this.”

Thomas had his offensive game going from the tip. The senior turned in 12 of OCA’s 18 first-quarter points. And by halftime, he had 17 points, leading the way. Although was far from the Eagles' only offensive threat.

Baker took on his usual scoring role as Preston struggled to defend his athletic scoring abilities. Baker had knocked down 3-pointers, stolen the ball, finished through contact and even hammered home a right-handed slam. He finished with 14 points behind Thomas' 24 and Carter Owen's 18.

As a team, OCA scored 18 points in the first quarter and then added 25 in the second to gain an 18-point advantage over Preston heading into halftime.Not much had changed by the third quarter as OCA led by 17. But in the fourth, second-ranked Preston (26-5) showed why it was in the state semifinals. The Pirates stormed back behind the shooting of Goree (19), Giorgio Dunn (17), Keyton Smith (12) and Malachi Logons (11).

Goree started the comeback, making a 3-pointer, grabbing a steal and scoring a layup. From there, the onslaught ensued. Smith would come flying in with a steal of his own and Dunn would be ready to knock down a 3-pointer. Even Tucker Webb hit a shot from deep. And by the time the Eagles looked up, their lead had dwindled to just three points with 16.6 seconds left to play. And Goree was on fire from deep.

After OCA (23-8) missed a free throw, Goree took a pass from Ryder Lewis and fired a deep 3-pointer from the OKC Fairgrounds logo that fell through the cylinder as flawlessly as it possibly could. The net barely moved.

Goree, who had only made one 3-pointer in the first half, finished the game with five. As a team, Preston made 10 3-pointers, but it couldn’t overcome Thomas in the final seconds of overtime on the last play.

“Honestly in the moment,” Romas said of Thomas’ game-winning play. “I told him to roll just because I thought his guy would stay and he’s 6-foot-3 he could get a rebound, which is what happened. I just didn’t know he’d miss the first one but you just kind of go with the gut right there and that’s what the gut said and it worked out for us.”

Dale 50, Pocola 33

The success starts on defense.

The Dale boys' basketball team, top-ranked in Class 2A and the defending state champion, garners a lot of attention for its scoring prowess. But on a night when the Pirates posted their lowest point total of the season, the defense remained a constant.

"We get after them," Dale junior Deken Jones said after the Pirates smothered No. 8 Pocola, 50-33, in a 2A state semifinal game Friday night at State Fair Arena. "We full-court pressure and that is kind of our thing. It's hard under pressure."

After a back-and-forth first quarter that Pocola led, 10-8, Dale indeed got after it. The Pirates held the Indians to a mere four points in the second quarter and with six points apiece from Jones and sophomore forward Trayden Chambers, Dale went to the halftime locker room with a 28-14 advantage.

"We really settled in, we started getting stops," Dale Coach Jeff Edmonson said. "We wanted to use our depth, try to wear them down a little bit and I think we did the first half."

Pocola (22-8) managed just eight offensive points in the third quarter as Dale drilled three three-pointers – two from freshman Denton Forsythe and one from sophomore Easton Edmonson – to extend the Pirates' lead to 41-22 after three quarters.

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"We knew they were going to get tired," junior Dayton Forsythe said. "They play five people and we were just going to keep doing what we were doing, but we have got to defend. So we were good."

Dale led by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter before Pocola cut into the deficit against the Pirates' reserves.

Dayton Forsythe – who holds scholarship offers from California, Colorado State, Drake, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts, Rice and Wake Forest – matched Jones with 10 points and led all players with nine rebounds and seven assists.

"We have got different guys that step up every night," Edmonson said. "Dayton is a super player, the best player in the state. There are nights where he'll go get 30 and then there are also nights where he will get double-figure assists. He will find the open guy every time."

Denton Forsythe chipped in eight points, while Chambers scored eight and registered seven rebounds.

Garrett Scott scored 16 points for Pocola (22-7), which surrendered 24 defensive rebounds to the Pirates.

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Dale is one win away from joining Class A Hydro-Eakly in 2021 as the only schools since 2015 to finish an unbeaten season in boys' basketball. The type of attention and target that comes with an unbeaten record is a pressure the Pirates have embraced.

"This is a special group," Jones said. "We have been playing together since we were younger and we all know each other and we trust each other. So that is what makes it so special. I think that is a key to our success."

Dale can clinch its unbeaten season and repeat as 2A state champions by defeating No. 3 Oklahoma Christian Academy (23-8) in the 2A state championship game Saturday at 6:45 at the State Fairgrounds.

"Keep the foot on the gas," Jones said. "It is going to take everybody. All of us."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OSSAA Class 2A boys basketball state tournament semifinals