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The Caddo Bruins pose after winning the Bryan County Basketball Tournament championship game Saturday night at Bloomer Sullivan Arena. The Bruins defeated the Rock Creek Mustangs 48-41. -
Rock Creek Mustang Anthony Nichols passes the ball in the championship game with Caddo. Matt Swearengin | Durant Democrat -
Matt Swearengin | Durant Democrat Rock Creek Mustang Weston Flowers and Caddo Bruin Parker Bearden are shown during the Bryan County Basketball Tournament championship game. -
Caddo Bruin Carson Culbreath shoots a basket during the championship game with Rock Creek. -
Caddo Bruin D.J. Dill goes up for a basket flanked by Rock Creek Mustangs during the Bryan County Basketball Tournament championship game.
Defending state champ Caddo survived a massive third quarter run by Rock Creek and posted its first Bryan County Tournament boys championship win since 2021 with a 48-41 win Saturday night at Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
It was a rematch of an earlier conference game just two weeks earlier in which the Bruins romped to victory but that wasn’t in the cards this time around thanks to a 12-0 Rock Creek flurry to open the third quarter which made things interesting the rest of the way.
Senior D.J. Dill captured the second county tournament Most Valuable Player award of his career while spurring the Class A seventh rated Bruins.
Caddo teammate Parker Bearden was an All-Tournament selection along with the Rock Creek duo of Colby Hopkins and Anthony Nichols, Boswell’s Devontre Ware and Logan Bumgarner of Calera.
Championship Caddo 48, Rock Creek 41
Dill poured in nine first quarter points and Bearden erupted for all 19 of his points before intermission as Caddo looked like it might cruise to another lopsided win with a 33-20 halftime cushion.
Hopkins, however, scored five points in less than 90 seconds after intermission while Nichols, J.T. Talley and Blake Barrett all added buckets as the Mustangs closed to within 33-32 with 5:15 left in the third period.
A Dill free throw ended the Bruin offensive drought before he and Carson Culbreath connected on three pointers to extend the lead back to 42-36 heading into what proved to be a low scoring fourth period.
Bearden led the scoring for Caddo with 19 as Dill wrapped up with 16 in the contest. Gavin McMichael tossed in five, Culbreath and Kale Brister added three apiece with Rance Richardson scoring two.
Hopkins had a terrific performance with 17 points in pacing the Mustangs. Barrett and Nichols ended with seven each, Talley scored five, Weston Flowers had three and Konnor Ribera pitched in two.
Third Place Boswell 43, Tushka 30
Boswell pitched a first quarter shutout leading 8-0 through one stanza and 14-7 at the half. Tushka closed to within 25-19 at the end of three frames before the Scorpions raced to 18 points in the final frame.
Tabor Ribera led the scoring attack for Boswell with 15 and Tristen Gibson led Tushka with 12.
Consolation Calera 59, Colbert 39
The Bulldogs rallied from an opening round tournament loss to Boswell to claim the consolation crown in convincing fashion over rival Colbert.
Calera led 12-9 at the end of one period, was up 27-18 at the half and 45-30 through three quarters.
Bumgarner caught fire for Calera with a season-high 20 points to fuel the Bulldogs offensively. Devan Walton also reached double figures with 17.
Lex Carlton pumped in nine, Rance Lewellen chipped in eight, Eason Humphers had three and Talon Rose scored two.
A pair of Leopards hit double digits with Chasien Simes scoring 13 and Kyle Peebles adding 10. Alex Stogner tossed in six, Zade Simes and Fernando Arrellano had three apiece with Ethan Floyd and Kendal Mouser both contributing two.
Semifinals Caddo 71, Boswell 33
The Bruins exploded to a 24-5 first quarter advantage and 47--21 cushion at intermission behind a whopping seven first half treys and never looked back.
Dill keyed the charge with 23 points with Brister adding a season-best 17 from the field. Treylin Henderson and Noah Bacon each scored seven, Richardson had four, McMichael and Corbin Stoner notched two apiece and Bearden tallied one.
Ware was the top producer for Boswell with 15 points.
Rock Creek 55, Tushka 34
Early offensive contributions helped Rock Creek race to a big first half edge en route to its third win over the Tigers on the season.
The Mustangs held a 19-6 lead after one period and extended it to 37-15 at halftime and 51-26 through third frames.
Nichols poured in 21 points to top three double figure scorers for Rock Creek. Hopkins tallied 15, Barrett scored 11, Zaiden Craige had six and Talley finished with two.