Oklahoma boys basketball playoff roundup: District tournaments featured both blowouts and close contests

By Josh Jennings 

Class A and B boys district play took place last weekend. 

Some teams saw their seasons come to an end, while others cruised to victory and onto the winner's bracket in regionals. Regional play will begin Thursday afternoon with the loser's bracket games being played at 3 p.m., and the winner's bracket games being played at 7:30 p.m. at various sites across Oklahoma on Thursday.

Some teams from last season’s state tournament could see their season end earlier than imagined.

Defending Class A state champion Tushka and semifinalist Hydro-Eakly will play Thursday afternoon in an elimination game. This will be a rematch of last season’s Class A semifinals in which Tushka won in an absolute thriller.

Teams such as top ranked Caddo in Class A dominated Ringling and nearly doubled the points of Ringling, as Caddo won the game, 63-31. Caddo has a favorable path to the area championship game, as it will play Central High and if they win, they will play either No. 16 Carnegie or Wilson.

In Class B, the top four seeds - Fort Cobb-Broxton, Roff, Stringtown and Calumet - each won its respective district games with no trouble at all.

But along with blowouts, there were some close contests such as Southwest Covenant and Wayne, which was a Class A Area II District 1 matchup. Southwest Covenant won the game, 69-66.

Another close game in Class A was in Area III District 7, as No. 2 Rattan beat Wright City, 67-65. In Class B, the closest game was in Area III District 3, as Pittsburg defeated Fort Towson, 37-35.

The postseason is divided into four areas, with each one sending the two teams who qualify to the state tournament March 1-4 in Oklahoma City at Jim Norick Arena after the area round, which will be played Feb. 23-25 at various sites. Regionals will be played this week.

More highlights from district play in each class and area included:

Class A

Area I, which is mostly schools in the southwest, saw nothing out of the ordinary in district play. However, regional play could be tough as No. 8 Boone-Apache, No. 10 Texhoma and No. 13 Cyril cruised in their district games.

Texhoma and Cyril will play one another Thursday, and whoever wins the regional most likely will face top-ranked Caddo in the area championship game.

Area II, which features schools all across the state, saw No. 3 Vanoss and No. 19 Wetumka win their games. These teams will play in the winner's bracket.

No. 15 Arapaho-Butler won its district game and looks to make its fourth straight state tournament appearance.

SBLive Oklahoma Top 25 boys basketball rankings: Vanoss jumps in after two big wins

Area III features mostly southeastern teams and saw some defensive battles. Gore and No. 18 Liberty both scored 44 points in its games and ended up winning. No. 7 Allen and Cave Springs both won its district games with no problems whatsoever.

Area IV, which showcased mostly teams in northern Oklahoma, saw some close games.

Garber, which is unranked, is looking for its fourth straight state tournament appearance and has been the state runner-up the past two seasons. Garber survived its district game, beating Yale 54-50. Frontier also beat Hominy, 51-50, and Shattuck upset No. 11 Laverne.

No. 6 Seiling had no problems with Ringwood, winning the game by more than 20 points.

Class B

Area I, featuring teams who are in western Oklahoma, saw No. 4 Calumet dominate their district contest and has now won 21 games in a row. No. 16 Vici, who was in Class A last season, defeated Buffalo, 60-40.

Kremlin-Hillsdale upset No. 13 Timberlake, 49-41, the only ranked team in Class B to lose.

Area II features teams who are in southwestern Oklahoma saw top-ranked Fort Cobb-Broxton and No. 7 Duke win its district games easily. These two teams are favored to meet in the area championship game, but there are some teams who are flying under the radar.

No. 14 Big Pasture played Duke in the regular season and lost by a point. Duke and Big Pasture are not in the same regional, but could possibly meet in the area championship game. Big Pasture will play Springer and if they win most likely face Fort Cobb, which could be an electric regional championship game.

Area III features teams in southwestern Oklahoma and features No. 2 Roff, who has been the Class B runners-up the last two seasons. Roff has lost five games this year, but has not lost to a team in Class B.

No. 5 Buffalo Valley and No. 11 Paden dominated their district with wins and most likely will face off in the regional championship should they win Thursday.

Area IV has teams from mostly eastern and central Oklahoma. Defending state champion No. 10 Glencoe will play No. 18 Varnum. The winner most likely will play No. 6 Kinta in the regional championship.

In the other regional, the two ranked teams in the winners bracket are No. 3 Stringtown and No. 15 Stuart. Should those teams win Thursday, they will face one another in the regional championship game Saturday.

Right now, there are 64 teams alive from each class and will play in regionals this week. However, only 24 teams will survive next weekend and reach the area tournament.