Roland sweeps area consolation titles to make state

Both Roland High School basketball teams had to do it the hard way, but they did it indeed.

The Roland Runnin’ Rangers and the Roland Lady Rangers each won their Class 3A Area Tournament consolation championship games Saturday night at Seminole High School to make this week’s state tournament.

The Runnin’ Rangers, who lost Friday night’s area finals 62-54 to the Tulsa Cascia Hall Commandos, rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat the Henryetta Black Knights 77-62 in Saturday night’s area consolation finals to earn a trip to the Class 3A State Tournament for the sixth time in the last 11 seasons.

The Runnin’ Rangers (25-2) will meet the top-seeded Oklahoma City Millwood Falcons at 9 a.m. Thursday at Jim Norick State Fair Arena. A win will put Roland into the championship semifinals against the winner of Thursday morning’s Chandler-Sequoyah/Claremore game at 9 a.m. Friday at “The Big House,” which is being used for the last time in more than 60 years as the site of the state tournament before it gets imploded this spring. Friday morning’s winner will play for the state title at 10:45 a.m. Saturday.

“I’m so happy for the boys,” said Roland boys coach Eddie Lewis, whose team will try to get him his first gold ball in his 40 years as Runnin’ Rangers’ coach. “They’ve worked hard all year. The assistant coaches (Nick Mooney and Mike Webb), they did a great job this year. They stayed right in there and helped me. It’s been a real team effort.”

The Lady Rangers, who fell 46-40 to Sequoyah-Tahlequah in Friday night’s Class 3A Area Tournament title game at Seminole High School, routed the Kiefer Lady Trojans — who fell to Roland 49-44 one week before in the regional tournament finals in Checotah — by a score of 57-34 to punch their ticket to state.

The Lady Rangers (22-5) will meet the top-seeded Washington Lady Warriors at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Jim Norick State Fair Arena. A win will put Roland into the championship semifinals against the winner of Thursday night’s Keys-Alva game at 4:30 p.m. Friday at “The Big House.” Friday afternoon’s winner will play for the state title at 5:45 p.m. Saturday.

“I got a little tears there,” Roland girls coach Scott Nelke said. “I’ve been a few times (to Jim Norick State Fair Arena) as a player. This is going to be the last one (state tournament to take place at ‘The Big House’). I know I wanted to go with my daughter (Ryanne). It’s going to be special for me because it’s the last one (at State Fair Arena). I’m pretty excited.”

In the boys’ area consolation finals, the Runnin’ Rangers took a 19-6 lead with 1:08 left in the first half on a basket by Buck Triplett and a 23-11 lead with 7:35 remaining before halftime on back-toback baskets by Triplett and Mason Kemp, but the Black Knights (1910) ended the first half with a 20-5 run, capped by a 3-point basket by Skylar Greenlaw with two seconds left in the first half, gave Henryetta a 3128 lead at the break.

A basket by Henryetta’s Talon Weaver to open the second half upped his team’s advantage 33-28 with 7:47 left in the third quarter.

From there, the Runnin’ Rangers ended the game by outscoring the Black Knights 49-29 to get the come-from-behind victory — and punch their ticket to this week’s state tournament.

For the game, Kemp scored a game-high 28 points to lead Roland, followed by Damonte Owens with 18 points, Triplett with 15 points, Kade Shook and Landon Fowler with six points each and Cason Perryman and Raesean Perryman with two points each.

“Their No. 2 (Greenhaw) and No. 10 (Weaver) can shoot the ball really well,” Lewis said. “We were able to handle the press. I thought we did a good job against the press. That got us shots at the other end, and that really helped us. We had a couple of guys step up and hit a couple of 3s, and that worked out really good for us.”

In the boys’ area finals, the Commandos (25-3) took a 15-9 lead after a period, only to see the Runnin’ Rangers cut their deficit to 32-29 at halftime thanks to a pair of free throws by Owens with 14 seconds left before halftime. However, that ended up being as close as Roland got.

Cascia Hall ended the third quarter with a 10-5 run to take a 42-34 lead into the final period, where the Commandos built as great as a 15-point lead at 50-35 with 6:07 left to play on a 3-pointer by Kam Burris.

The Runnin’ Rangers cut the deficit to three points on a pair of Shook free throws with 49 seconds left but never got over the hump.

“I’m tickled to death with our boys,” Lewis said. “We never did quit. I’m proud of them.”

In defeat, Owens scored a game-high 22 points to lead Roland, followed by Triplett with 16 points, Fowler with seven points, Shook with six points, Kemp with two points and Paul Johnson with a free throw.

In the girls’ area consolation title game, the Lady Trojans (225) had a 10-8 lead after a quarter, but the Lady Rangers doubled them up 14-7 in the second period to take a 22-17 halftime lead.

In the second half, the Lady Rangers got their advantage to as great as 25 points as a pair of Halle Freeman free throws gave Roland a 57-32 lead with 2:06 left to play in the game.

“We didn’t want it to be over,” Nelke said. “From here on out, if you don’t want it to be over, you got to play harder than the other team. I told them before the game, ‘If you want to keep playing, it’s the 50-50 balls and the rebounding — it’s the little things. This group did it (Saturday night). This group didn’t want it (the season) to be done. I’m proud of them. They did a heck of a job.”

For the contest, Halle Freeman led Roland with a game-high 25 points, followed by Haven Freeman with 14 points, Nelke with 12 points, Julianna Trujillo with four points and Molly Carver with two points.

In the girls’ area title game, the Lady Rangers, who trailed 13-7 after a quarter and 27-24 at the half, rallied to take a 3430 lead with 27 seconds left in the third quarter on a basket by Nelke. Roland led 34-32 entering the final period.

In the fourth quarter, the Lady Indians outscored the Lady Rangers 14-6 to get the comeback win.

“Give credit where credit is due,” Nelke said. “Both teams played hard. They got to more of the 50-50 balls than we did down the stretch in the end when it counted. That’s what decided the game.”

In defeat, Haven Freeman led all scorers with a game-high 21 points to lead Roland, followed by Halle Freeman with 11 points, Nelke with five points and Lilly Cole with three points.