Pioneers can’t hold big lead in defeat

Bartlesville snatches games away in fourth quarter

By Scott Nulph Stillwater NewsPress

STILLWATER, Okla. —

The Stillwater Pioneers were cruising on Friday night against Bartlesville.

Alex Budke’s rebound basket with 5:15 to play in the third quarter gave SHS a 12-point lead. The Pioneers were making all the right plays. Then something happened. Stillwater forgot to finish the game.

And Bartlesville didn’t.

The Bruins came all the way back, getting a three-point play by Richard Courtney with 9.2 seconds remaining to beat the Pioneers 64-61 at the SHS Fieldhouse.

SHS’s final chance to send the game into overtime ended when Jordan Pound missed on a 3-pointer from the top of the key as the final horn sounded.

“You’ve got to finish off a game,” SHS coach Michael Davis said. “We had a couple of chances to put them away and we kept letting them back in it. We can’t make free throws and layups for these guys.”

Coming off a disappointing home loss to Enid on Tuesday, the Pioneers (7-13) appeared to have things back on track in the Centennial Conference matchup.

SHS led from the opening tip, and despite giving up much of a 14-point, third-quarter lead, the Pioneers still led 54-45 after Austin Brinker’s steal and layup with 6:10 to go.

But the Pioneers started turning the ball over (six times in the final quarter) and started missing free throws (five down the stretch) and the Bruins (9-12) kept crawling back into the game.

Bartlesville tied the game for the first time on two free throws by Travis Payne with 2 minutes left.

SHS junior Jordan Pound’s two free throws got the lead back, but Bartlesville’s Cory Anderson hit a 3-pointer with 1:43 to go to give BHS its first lead.

A Budke basket with 28.5 seconds left tied the game at 61-61, only to have Courtney slip a screen and hit a layup while being fouled with 9.2 seconds to go. Courtney banked home the free throw for the 64-61 lead.

SHS got the ball to Pound at the top of the key with time running out. His 3-point attempt missed everything.

“I never thought we wouldn’t win this game,” Davis said. “I thought we’d win this game up to the very end. It’s hard to figure sometimes. Obviously, you want to win as many home games as possible. We’re under .500 at home, we’re under .500 overall. It’s the story of our season, we don’t finish them when we need to.”

Pound led three Pioneers in double figures with 16 points and added 6 assists. Brinker scored 13 points and Connor Lamb added 10 off the bench.

Payne led the Bruins with 18 points.

 

Bartlesville    9    26    40    64

Stillwater    16    32    46    61

BARTLESVILLE: Benson 4 5-6 13, Anderson 2 2-2 8, Shoemaker 0 0-0 0, Courtney 3 1-1 7, Hicks 4 2-6 10, Payne 5 4-4 18, Tate 4 0-0 8. Totals: 23 12-17 64.

STILLWATER: Pound 5 4-5 16, Holt 1 3-4 3, Budke 2 0-0 4, Josh Pierre 4 0-0 9, Brinker 4 5-8 13, Josiah Woodard 2 0-0 4, Lamb 5 0-0 10, Joseph Pierre 0 0-0 0, Parker 0 0-0 0, Wiyninger 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 12-17 61.

3-pointers: Bartlesville 6 (Anderson 2, Payne 2, Benson 2); Stillwater 3 (Pound 2, Josh Pierre 1). Total fouls: Bartlesville 18, Stillwater 17. Fouled out: Benson.

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