Noah Carr (4) fires off a medium range jumper as the Dogs met Pauls Valley last Tuesday.
Sulphur’s only loss in another busy tournament and regular season week came in last Friday’s semifinals of the Washington Warrior tournament to Class 4A’s most talented team.
The Dogs opened the week last Tuesday with a 16-point win over Pauls Valley in a regular season game, then competed in the Washington Warrior tournament over the weekend where they rallied from the loss to 4th ranked North Rock Creek, to beat Broken Bow for the consolation title.
The Dogs opened the Warrior tournament with a 63-46 win over Casady, a team they met in the first round a year ago.
Head Sulphur coach Grant Bates said the Dogs focused well in the four-game stretch last week, but were plagued by turnovers against the Cougars that ultimately led to their defeat.
Following is brief synopsis of each of their games last week:
Sulphur 69, Pauls Valley 53 Tuesday, Jan. 21
The Dogs got a big night from junior Bridge Barrett and seniors Devin Willis and Noah Carr to roll past a talented Panther team, 69-53, in a game leading up to the tournament in Washington.
Barrett pumped in 27 points for the night with Willis adding 21 and Carr 16 to lead the Dogs in scoring. Other notable stats included Colten Cole with 8 boards and Barret 5. Leading in assists were Barrett with 7 Carr 5. Cole and Car led in steals with 3 and 2 respectively.
“Pauls Valley is a talented team with experienced guards,” said Bates. “Our defense ended up causing them problems in the middle stretch of the game that gave us the advantage needed to close it out in the 4th. We also shot free throws really well down the stretch that helped us hold our lead. I was proud of our ability to bounce back after the loss the game before. We came in focused and ready to go.”
Washington Tournament Sulphur 63, Casady 46
Thursday, Jan 23 (First Round)
Sulphur opened the Washington tournament with a win over
PHOTO BY DEJAY ARMS Casady, the same team they met in last year’s opening round.
PHOTOS BY DEJAY ARMS Sulphur’s Hailey Beesley (22), left photo, and Jayden Lee (25), right photo, drive to the basket in the Lady Bulldogs game at Pauls Valley last Tuesday.
LEFT: Sulphur’s Bridge Barrett, left, drives around a Pauls Valley defender in a game last Tuesday. RIGHT: The Dog’s Devin Willis puts in a layup in Sulphur’s game at Pauls Valley.
The Dogs essentially took away the Cyclones’ability to shoot threes by holding them to a 1 for 14 night, limiting their scoring, said Bates. “Going in we were prepared for a skilled offensive team and were determined to take away their ability to make outside shots,” said Bates. “We executed well as a group and played as a team from start to finish.”
Again, Barrett was the hot shooter for the Dogs, ending with 22 points. He was followed by Willis 18, Cole 10, and Carr 10.
Other stats included: rebounds- Bridge Barrett 12; assists- Noah Carr 8; steals- Noah Carr 2, and Cole Kirby 2.
Sulphur 49, North Rock Creek 74 Friday, Jan 24 (Second Round)
Despite leading the game after the first quarter, the Dogs weren’t able to make their shots in the second quarter and got the turnover bug in the second half, losing to the North Rock Creek Cougars, 74-49, in the tournament’s second round.
Bates said the Cougars are arguably the most talented team in Class 4A, and showed their power in the second half.
“They do an excellent job of playing with an extremely high pace and making pl,” Bates said of the Cougars. “We came out with a ton of energy and were able to be up after the first quarter. We weren’t able to make shots in the 2nd and they took a 7-point lead going into half time. They extended their lead quickly in the 3rd quarter due to some costly turnovers by us and we couldn’t climb back into the game.”
Bates said foul trouble also hurt his squad in addition to the 15 turnovers compared to only three for the Cougars.
“I thought we fought hard all the way until the end,” he said. “We just didn’t execute the game plan in the middle two quarters and credit North Rock Creek they took advantage and extended the lead. We know we are better than our showing in this game, and when you play the absolute best teams your margin for error is very small and we just had too many mistakes.”
Barrett again led the Dogs in scoring, pouring in 23 followed by Willis with 15. Other notable stats included: rebounds- Bridge Barrett 9, Devin Willis 4; assists- Bridge Barrett 4, and Cole Kirby 3.
Sulphur 66, Broken Bow 48 Saturday, Jan 25 (Third Round)
On a bright note, the Dogs ended the tournament with a defensive gem in the second quarter and cruised on in for a 66-48 win over Broken Bow, a ranked team all year in Class 4A.
“Broken Bow has been ranked all year in our class and have a very talented sophomore guard,” said Bates. “He has already scored 1,000 points in his career and we knew going in we would have to find a way to slow him down to have the opportunity to win. We came out in the 1st quarter and there was like there was a lid on the rim. We could not make anything. Their guard had 9 of their 13 points as well so we just did not get off to a good start. We adjusted our defense in the 2nd quarter and that started to limit their guard play and we started making a run.”
Bates said he was proud of the effort his team gave in the consolation win.
“We flew around and played harder than our opponent. It wasn’t a championship, but we came out of this week with a lot to build on.” Willis and Barett both had an outstanding games on offense, each scoring 28 points. Other notable stats included: rebounds- Colten Cole 6, Bridge Barrett 5, Devin Willis 4; assists- Noah Carr 7, and Bridge Barrett 5.
The Dogs played at Madill on Tuesday and will head to Plainview on Friday and Marlow on Saturday to round out their week on hardwood.
