Roughers' campaign comes to halt vs. Midwest City
Mar. 6—Down eight points with 47 seconds left in a game that was defined for the most part by an endless series of traded blows, it indeed looked over.
Muskogee, however, had some counter punches left.
But the Roughers used them all up in forcing overtime, where it saw its season end 72-65 to the Midwest City Bombers at Del City's John Smith Field House in the Class 6A East Area consolation semifinal.
Ethan Ganaway was at the line for a one-and-one with 21.4 seconds left for the Bombers (x-s). He missed the first one and the Roughers' Jaraun Campbell rebounded. He took it the length of the floor for a layup with 11.4 left on what was an 8-0 run from the time Makale Smith hit a pair of free throws to make it a 62-54 contest at the 47-second mark.
Once tied, and after a timeout, Midwest City's DeAngelo Irvin inbounded. His pass intended up the left side for Smith went out of bounds when Smith stumbled, giving Muskogee the ball to inbound underneath its own basket with the same time on the clock.
Keondre Johns inbounded to Xavier Brown, who went to Mekeion Payne. Payne, who had two 3s in that final 47 seconds, tossed it to JaVontae Campbell. Campbell drove the lane then kicked it out to the corner and the guy who tied it moments earlier. But Jaraun Campbell missed the mark. Kwaii Sampleton rebounded for the Bombers and the regulation buzzer sounded.
But Muskogee would never see the lead it fought so frantically to gain, doing so without the services of point guard James Brown, who fouled out of the game with 1:03 to play in regulation.
The Roughers were 1-of-8 in overtime. Xavier Brown's free throws with 2:15 left made it a 65-64 deficit. JaVontae Campbell's putback off a miss by Payne made it 69-67 with 51.3 left.
Smith drove for two and Keivon Hudson hit a free throw, which finished the scoring.
"You have to have something go your way and it seemed like we couldn't get anything to go our way down the stretch except Mak willing us to overtime almost single-handedly (with his 3-pointers)," a dejected Muskogee coach Lynwood Wade said afterward. "At the same time we've got to take care of the basketball and play a little smarter. Our point guard fouling out made it tough."
Midwest City's Israel Hart, who had 14 points, also fouled out with 1:45 to go. One of his came on a technical for taunting after a first-half basket, a move that led to a five-point turnaround for the Roughers, going from down 33-28 to up 33-31.
Sampleton led the Bombers with 16 points.
"A turnover here or there," Wade said, reflecting on the keys to the outcome. "Jaraun's capable of making those 3s and if that falls in, we don't play overtime. Sometimes you have to have Lady Luck on your side."
JaVontae Campbell finished with a game-high 21 points. Xavier Brown had 17, as did Payne, who rang up five 3s on the night. James Brown and Jaraun Campbell had 6 to cap the scoring.
In the end, Wade, a former Rougher himself, gushed with positivity on the year his team had, battling through prolonged periods of idleness due to COVID issues and yet turning in an 11-6 record and the first Muskogee team to reach area since 2014.
"I wanted them to play like I played — up-down, athletic kids," he said. "We had some kids who could shoot it and I wanted to maximize what our kids' strengths were, and I think as a coaching staff and kids buying into what we were doing, I think we did a great job of that."
Midwest City (16-6) plays Broken Arrow (13-7) in the area consolation final on Saturday.
