COP/Arvest tourney: Bartlesville Bruins battle fiercely against ranked foes

Playing two No. 1-ranked teams on consecutive days is not anyone’s formula for fun.

But, the Bartlesville High boys basketball team didn’t back down from the challenge in their final two games last weekend at the ConocoPhillips/Arvest Invitational hosted by Bartlesville.

In Saturday’s third-place game against No. 1 (Class 3A) Millwood High, Bartlesville nearly slapped Millwood with what would have been only its second loss to an unranked team.

But, Millwood held on to beat Bartlesville, 71-68, in the boys third-place game. The 68 point-total was Bartlesville’s biggest in a month.

Bartlesville reached a milestone in Thursday’s 85-48 win against Ponca City, with head coach Clent Stewart achieving his 75th career victory. He is fourth on the program's all-time list.

On Friday, the Bruins had to take on No. 1 (Class 5A) Carl Albert High in the semifinals.

The Bruins hung within striking distance most the game and trailed by 11, 52-41, on Jack Wahl’s bucket, with just under three minutes remaining.

But, the Titans kept the Bruins at arm’s distance down the stretch and won, 64-46.

The common denominator for Bartlesville in both games was No. 10.

That’s the uniform number of David Castillo, who erupted for 30 and 35 points, respectively, on Friday and Saturday.

Castillo has scored at least 30 points in five games this season for the Bruins (3-8). He is averaging about 25 points per game this season and for his career.

Michael Smith III and Aadhi Ayyappan added 14 and 13 points, respectively, against Millwood.

Following are more details for each game.

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CARL ALBERT 64, BARTLESVILLE 46

The Titans led at the end of the first quarter, 11-7, with Castillo having scored all of the Bruins’ points.

Carl Albert's Jayden Mott made a slam to help Carl Albert lead at half, 24-19.

Key Bartlesville plays in the second quarter included a charge taken by Ayyappan, followed by a foul on Castillo and two free throws.

A pattern also had developed — Castillo and Ayyappan scored all of Bartlesville’s points the first three quarters.

In the latter part of the third period, an offensive rebound by Cooper Wood set up a Castillo three-pointer that cut the Titans’ lead to three points, 29-26.

The Titans continued to pull away to start the fourth quarter, building a 12-point lead, 45-33.

In addition to Castillo’s 30 points, Ayyappan tallied 10, while Riley Duong, Wahl and Dayton McCall combined for the other six points.

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MILLWOOD 71, BARTLESVILLE 68

In their previous seven games, Bartlesville had scored more than 56 points only once.

But, they raised their offensive level of play against the Falcons.

In fact, Millwood left the door wide open in the past few minutes — but Bartlesville didn't get over the threshold.

Millwood missed five free throws — including a couple of front ends of one-and-one opportunities — to allow the Bruins to hand around.

With a little more than a minute remaining, Millwood seemed to own an insurmountable lead, 67-58, thanks to buckets by Jaden Nickens on back-to-back possessions.

However, the Bruins turned the final 66 seconds into Thrill City.

Castillo drew a foul with 1:06 remaining and drilled two free throws to trim the lead to seven points, 67-60.

Millwood controlled the ball for most the last minute.

A Bruin rebound, quick push up the court and three-pointer by Castillo sliced the margin to four points, 67-63.

Bartlesville made a quick foul — and the shooter with 0-for-2. But, Millwood grabbed the offensive rebound, drew another foul and hit two tosses to go up, 69-63.

Seven seconds later, Castillo canned two free throws to make it a four-point game, 69-65, with 15.9 seconds left.

A Millwood shooter missed two free throws again with 13.8 seconds lef to give Bartlesville another chance.

The Bruins surged to the other end and Ayyappan sliced the nets with a deep three-pointer — off an assist from Castillo — to make it a two-point game, 70-68.

Only 6.2 seconds remained.

Another Bruin foul and Millwood made one free throw to make the score 71-68.

The Bruins made a desperately rapid push up the court, leading to Castillo getting a decent look from near the corner on a three-pointer. Whether a Falcon player managed to get a finger from behind on Castillo’s shot, it was hard to tell in live action. The bottom line was his attempt fell short of the basket and Millwood escaped with the three-point win.

Millwood had led by 10 in the second period, but a quick spurt by Bartlesville — including two Castillo free throws, a two-and-one play by McCall, a wrist-flicking flip-in shot by Ayyappan and a Castillo three-pointer tied the score, 22-22.

At halftime, Millwood led by only three points, 27-24,

But, Millwood’s offense got a little traction in the early part of the fourth period, sparked by a three-point play by Khristopher Clay. The Falcons saw their lead chewed away but managed to hold on.

Next up, the Bruins play host Tuesday to Muskogee.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville High boys basketball team wages tough battles in tourney