Focus on future: Bartlesville hoops teams to surge into final stretch

All the tournaments and special road trips are in the rear view mirror for Bartlesville High School basketball teams.

Now starts the grind to improve one’s playoff seeding and to prepare for a postseason run.

There’s not much time for the former.

Every team’s record will be turned in by Feb. 6, which will result in the final postseason seeding.

For the Bartlesville teams, that’s just four games to make the best impression they can on the seeding powers that be.

Bartlesville’s scheduled games between then and now are: Friday (at Owasso), Tuesday (host Sand Springs), Feb. 2 (host Tulsa Union) and Feb. 3 (at Bixby).

Just a note, this past Tuesday’s scheduled games against Union were postponed, due to weather-related concerns, until next Thursday.

Following is a review of where the Bruins and Lady Bruins are at going into the rest of the campaign.

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BRUINS

Bartlesville has provided a lot of entertainment for fans, but the bottom line, in terms of wins and losses, isn’t where they would hope at 4-10.

There are a lot of different ways to analyze what happened the first 14 games, but that’s like the guy in the rubber boat surrounded by alligators wondering where they came from, instead of paddling like heck to find a happier place.

The Bruins still have eight games remaining, not including the playoffs. They can still finish in the top half of the conference standings and earn a more competitive playoff regional.

Some lessons learned in the first two-thirds of a season include: The Bruins are 3-1 when scoring 70-or-more points, 4-4 when holding opponents to 65-or-fewer points and 3-3 at home and 1-7 on the road.

A victory Friday at Owasso could go a long, long way in redefining Bartlesville’s pattern and jump-starting a winning streak.

This will be the first meeting this season between the Bruins and Owasso (8-6).

Owasso is on a five-game victory skein, including winning a tourney last weekend in Pittsburg, Kan.

Bartlesville head coach Clent Stewart and his staff have been “focusing on trying to put guys in the spots they’ll be most successful in,” he said. “We’ve tried to change a few things offensively.”

That includes Bruin players being more creative when other teams double Bruin star David Castillo, who is averaging 25 points per game despite facing intense attention by every team the Bruins play.

By being more creative, the Bruins can take advantage of defensive gaps when Castillo is double-teamed and take some defensive pressure off him.

“We’ve been trying to do those things the last couple of weeks,” Stewart said. “The players’ attitudes have been great. It’s just simplifying things for them to focus on a few things.”

Castillo, who has scored at least 30 points in nearly half of the Bruin games, “is getting things thrown at him that no one else in the state is getting thrown at them,” Stewart said. “We been moving him off the ball quite a bit,” to allow him to set up.

Castillo — ranked as the No. 1 point guard nationally in the high school Class of 2024 — has been playing “really hard, trying to get open, trying to score the basketball, try to help push the ball and helping the other guys score the basketball. His defense is getting better.”

Castillo, Aadhi Ayyappan and Dayton McCall are the Bruins’ three returning starters from last year. Castillo and Ayyappan are both three-year starters.

Michael Smith III starts at one of the forward spots. Caleb Rogers has been in the opening lineup for several games. Riley Duong, Cooper Wood, Jack Wahl and Chance Sumner have generally in the four to come off the bench first, depending on matchups.

McCall plays hard all the time, Ayyappan has been making key contributions and Wahl’s game has progressed well, Stewart said.

Rogers “has taken some strides,” Stewart continued. “We’ve got to get keep him locked in and focused.”

“Our kids attitude has been showing up every day, coming to work and trying to do what we’re asking them to do,” Stewart said. “They give all their energy they have so they can do their best.”

The Bruins pushed hard in their last outing prior to losing by 15 to the state’s No. 1-ranked Broken Arrow Tigers.

Frontier Valley Conference

boys standings

• 7-0: Broken Arrow (15-0)

• 5-2: Bixby (12-4)

• 5-2: Jenks (9-5)

• 4-2: Tulsa Union (8-7)

• 4-2: BT Washington (9-4)

• 3-3: Owasso (8-6)

• 2-4: Bartlesville: (4-10)

• 1-5: Sand Springs (8-7)

• 1-6: Sapulpa (5-11)

• 0-6: Muskogee (3-9)

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LADY BRUINS

With six wins in their pocket, the Bartlesville High girls’ basketball team faces no mystery when it comes to the next step on their ladder of progress.

Bartlesville (5-9) is 0-6 in Frontier Valley Conference games — a losing streak that goes back to the 2018-19 season.

Winning a FVC contest would be a tremendous boost to the Lady Bruins’ confidence.

Their next opportunity to do so is Friday, when they travel to Owasso.

It’s not an easy proposition on paper, Owasso is 8-7 overall and 1-5 in the FVC — not much different than Bartlesville’s record. But, the Lady Rams also enjoy homecourt advantage.

Bartlesville’s defense has been steadily improving. They’ve allowed an average of less than 47 points their last seven games — compared with an average of 61.1 points allowed the previous eight games

Five-foot-10 junior Mikka Chambers and five-foot-eight junior Kaelynn “K.K.” Duncan have each elevated their offensive game to blistering levels. They might be one of the highest scoring tandems in a decade for Bartlesville, when they are both on.

The team also has a strong freshman strain with starter Kenzie Zimmerman, guard and guard Emma Zimmerman.

Junior guard Grace McPhail is an all-around scrapper with a strong offensive touch a times and sophomore Kadance Barnett brings a strong flair of athleticism to both ends of the court and in the transition.

Sophomore Alayah Lunn also is a key contributor.

The Lady Bruins opened the season against a devastating one-two punch — losing by 50 to Class 5A No. 1-ranked Sapulpa and by 44 to Class 6A No. 2-ranked Bixby.

But, since that nondescript 0-2 start, Bartlesville is 6-7 while finishing as runner-up, third place and fifth place in their three tournaments.

That elusive conference win is next on the list of musts. Once they snap that drought who knows what the boost might be.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville High basketball players ready to finish strong