Durant boys snap skid with McAlester win

After a near miss earlier in the week, the Durant Lion basketball team managed to break through with its first district win of the season last Friday with a 56-45 verdict over rival McAlester.

Success was a bit more difficult for the Lady Lions, falling to league leader Coweta as well as McAlester.

Durant will be back on the road Friday and Saturday while visiting both Tulsa Edison and Tulsa Rogers on the north swing.

Girls

Points were extremely tough to come by for the Lady Lions in a 4127 loss to Coweta to start the week as they were shutout 15-0 in the opening period.

Durant put together a rally, cutting the gap to 20-9 at halftime and 24-22 at the end of three quarters. The Lady Lions even got as close as 27-26 but were outscored 14-1 the rest of the way.

Maya Dodson canned three treys in the third quarter comeback and finished with a team-leading 12 points. Emeri Morse tossed in six, Iyana Wilson had four with Emma Green chipped in three and two by Ella Sorrels.

A 16-5 McAlester run to begin the second game of the week put the Lady Lions in another double digit deficit they were trying to make up the remainder of the contest.

McAlester was up 35-21 at halftime and 45-28 through three stanzas.

Sorrels tossed in seven in the

Lion Tashaun Williams is shown in a recent game with Tulsa Memorial.

final quarter to finish with a team-best 12 points. Sydney Grover also reached double figures with 10. Dodson scored nine, Kennedy Lafevers had three with Wilson and Morse adding two each.

Boys

A massive 25-point third quarter rallied the Lions to a 51-50 lead against Coweta but the Tigers answered in the fourth to force overtime before outscoring the hosts for a 75-74 victory.

Three Durant players all reached double figures thanks to strong second half performances. Jaylon Saxon paced that group with 19 points while Callaway Nabors chipped in 15 and Kolton Mason had 13.

The Lions also picked up nine points from Ryder Jones along with Braylen Lyday’s eight, seven by Joseph Flores as well as Tashawn Williams’ two.

Itwasafaststartthatproved to be critical in the McAlester victory as the Lions raced out of the gates while also holding the Buffaloes in check while building a commanding 20-3 edge through the opening quarter. Jones notched seven of those points with Mason sinking a pair of three pointers to go along with five points by Flores.

Durant maintained that margin to a 33-16 halftime cushion and then still carried a 41-30 advantage into the fourth.

Saxon again led the scoring charge with 16 points with Mason posting 13 and Nabors 11. Jones nearly reached double figures as he ended with nine points. Flores scored six and Lyday added a pair.