BOUNCE BACK

Kingfisher bounced back from one of its most lopsided losses of the season to win some hardware in Chisholm.

The Jackets won back-to-back games Saturday and Monday to claim the Wheat Capital Tournament’s consolation championship.

The wins were 56-51 against second-seeded Alva in Saturday’s consolation semifinal and then 56-44 Monday to claim fifth place.

That came after Friday night’s 72-52 defeat to Cushing in the quarterfinal round, a game that the Jackets led 6-5 before giving up a 16-0 run. They didn’t threaten again.

That loss gave the Jackets the task of battling Alva, which entered the tournament undefeated, but was upset by the host team on Friday.

But Kingfisher controlled the game almost from the start.

Jhett Birdwell made two treys and Paytun Burnham another as Kingfisher built a 17-9 lead.

It was 30-22 at the half and KHS dominated the early goings of the third quarter.

Hayes White’s putback gave Kingfisher a 42-24 advantage.

That’s when Alva mounted its comeback as the Goldbugs were within 11 after three quarters and got as close as 54-51 with 16 seconds left.

The Goldbugs fouled Jackson Willbanks with 14.4 seconds to play, but Birdwell grabbed the missed second shot.

He was quickly fouled and iced the game with a pair of makes.

Birdwell scored 14, including making three 3-pointers and going 3 of 4 at the line in the fourth.

Cash Laird added 13 while White led the team with 16.

It was another great start Monday.

Birdwell and Paytun Burnham both made 3-pointers as KHS staked a 19-5 lead in the first quarter. It was 20-7 by the end of the first as Birdwell had seven and Burnham six.

Pond Creek-Hunter crept its way back into it - a theme on the night - as the Panthers kept feeding big man Micah Westrope, who scored 10 points in the second quarter. He got his team within 29-19 at the half.

Jackson Willbanks started the second half with a 3-pointer and Birdwell added another at the 3:45 mark as Kingfisher started the second half on a 10-0 run.

Birdwell sank another trey at 2:18 of the quarter to give the Jackets a comfortable 45-24 lead.

Still not done, though, the Panthers closed on a 10-0 run to stay within striking distance.

But they never got closer than eight points in the fourth quarter.

Willbanks killed their momentum with a big 3-pointer and added two late buckets to score 12 on the night.

White, who was named to the all-tournament team, also scored 12 while Birdwell led all scorers with 18 points.

After his big second quarter, Westrope only scored two more points the rest of the game.

The wins pushed KHS to 7-5 on the season. Kingfisher has matched its win total from all of last season.

Coach Colby Connel praised the play of Birdwell the last two days after mirroring the rest of the team and struggling against Cushing.

“It was good to see him follow up that game with two big outings like that,” Connel said.

He also appreciated the showing of Willbanks against the Panthers, especially late in the game.

“We know what we’re going to get out of certain guys, but we need that fourth guy to step up on any given night for us to be a good team,” Connel said. “Jackson is probably the most capable so it was good seeing him do things Monday that I think he can do more often.”