Both the Durant girls and boys each took home hardware from the inaugural McAlester Invitational basketball tournament last week before returning to district action this week.
The Lady Lions bounced back from an opening round defeat for two wins, throttling Southeast (5119) before rallying to surprise Class 6A Muskogee, 39-38, for the consolation title.
Durant boys slipped past Tulsa Rogers, 53-50, in its opener but fell to Muskogee by a 75-40 count in the semifinals. The Lions rebounded by avenging an earlier loss for a 49-43 victory against McAlester.
Each team will finally return home on Friday against Tulsa Memorial with a 6 p.m. start time.
Girls
Things looked a little bit in question as the Lady Lions trailed Muskogee, 35-28, heading to the final quarter before notching one of their best frames of the year on the way to evening their record at 5-5.
Defense was the biggest key in the dramatic comeback, holding the Lady Roughers to a single field goal and free throw over the last eight minutes.
Ella Sorrels tossed in a pair of baskets, Iyana Wilson added a three pointer and Kennedy Lafevers and Abrianna Freeman contributed a bucket apiece. It was Wilson’s trey in the closing stretch that finally put Durant ahead for good.
The Lady Lions led 13-10 after one quarter before Muskogee responded to take a 22-20 edge at halftime and 35-28 to the fourth when Durant put on the defensive clamps.
Wilson led an extremely balanced scoring arsenal with eight points with Sorrels and Freeman posting seven each. Lafevers and Sydney Grover both notched five, Emeri Morse had four and Maya Dodson pitched in three.
Friday’s win over Southeast saw Durant race to an 11-4 first quarter advantage and they increased that margin to 30-8 at halftime and never looked back.
Sorrels fueled the offensive charge with 13 points as Wilson narrowly missed double figures, chipping in nine. Grover notched seven, Emma Green and Morse had six apiece, Freeman scored four, Lafevers and Dodson had three apiece.
Coach Will Robinson’s club was blitzed by Class 6A Edmond Santa Fe, 54-21, in the tournament opener. Sorrels was the top scorer in that one with eight points as Grover pitched in five.
Boys
Finishing off strong, the Lions rode a big 13-5 second quarter scoring edge to the lead it would never relinquish against the host Buffaloes for third place.
It was still a 37-28 Durant cushion at the end of three stanzas and they held on from there.
Ryder Jones canned four three pointers on the way to a team-best 17 points with Jaylen Saxon adding a big offensive performance as well with 16. Kolton Mason tossed in six.
The Lions could never get untracked against Muskogee, falling behind 22-7 after one period and the 6A club steadily pulled away from there to make it 38-18 at intermission and 58-31 through three periods.
Freshman Joseph Flores poured in three treys to lead the scoring for Durant, which also got six points apiece from Jones, Saxon and Braylen Lyday.
Coach Aaron George’s squad put together a solid second half in the tournament opening matchup to topple district foe Tulsa Rogers.
They trailed the Ropers 22-17 at the half but doubled their total with a 17-point third quarter burst to go in front at 3433 heading to the final stanza.
Durant was solid at the free throw line down the stretch, especially Saxon as he pumped in a gamehigh 20 points that included two three pointers.
Callaway Neighbors also hit double figures with 11 points as Jones ended with nine.
