Class 2A loot belongs to Pirates

With respect to the rest of the classification, it was a foregone conclusion for most that Dale would win the 2024 Class 2A boys basketball state championship.

That much was concluded in 2022 - if not sooner when a group of three freshmen and two sophomore starters defeated Cashion 65-58 in the 2022 title game.

They backed it up in 2023 by going undefeated and repeating as state champs, a run that included winning the Tournament of Champions.

So now, with that group being three juniors and two seniors - including arguably the state’s top player in Dayton Forsythe - nobody gave the rest of the field a chance.

That said, Hennessey still gave it a good shot.

By dominating the second and third quarters, the top-ranked Pirates eventually pulled away from the Eagles for a 67-44 victory in the Class 2A state semifinals Friday night at State Fair Arena.

The margin of victory was the smallest during Dale’s run to a third consecutive championship, which concluded Saturday with a 63-38 victory against No. 2 Pocola.

In fact, it was Dale’s narrowest win since beating Class 3A’s Jones by 19 points on Jan. 2.

“I was proud of our guys because they aren’t used to being in that situation, but they kept fighting and played them well,” said Hennessey coach Brady Page.

Infact,Hennesseywasn’t in that situation - fighting a big deficit - for the entirety of the game.

After Dale’s Easton Edmonson nailed a 3-pointer less than 10 seconds into the game, Hennessey rattled off seven straight points.

After tying the game on a Hunter Weber 3-pointer and taking the lead with Jael Torres’ bucket at the 6:40 mark, the Eagles controlled the rest of the quarter.

Weber added another trey and Torres three more buckets as Hennessey led the Pirates 18-13 after a quarter.

That’s when Dale started to take command.

Levi Kely opened the second quarter with a trey, the team’s first since Edmonson’s shot to start the game.

Forsythe followed with another and Dale was in the midst of a 13-0 run.

The Pirates led by as many as 10 points in the second before Hennessey cut the game to eight at halftime.

Torres had 12 points and six rebounds at the break but also picked up his third foul with 2:41 to play in the half.

His fourth foul came in the third quarter.

“He got into that foul trouble, so he wasn’t able to be as aggressive,” said Page of the Hennessey big man. “And Dale also started to double him some from the back, which made it tougher for him to get good looks.”

Torres ended the night with 16 points and seven rebounds.

After outscoring Hennessey 21-8 in the second quarter, the Pirates extended their lead with a 19-9 showing in the third.

That included a 12-2 run to close out the third and start the fourth.

Forsythe led all scorers with 22 points, but was just 7 of 22 from the field. The University of Oklahoma signee was 7 of 8 from the free throw line and also had a game-high nine rebounds.

Weber led Hennessey with 19 points.

He was 3 of 6 from long range and 8 of 14 overall. Weber also had six rebounds for the Eagles.

The Eagles shot a similar percentage as Dale.

They were 18 of 45 overall (40 percent) while Dale was 22 of 54 (40.7 percent).

The Pirates out-rebounded Hennessey by 14 (36-22), which included 20 offensive boards. That led to 20 second- chance points for Dale to just six for Hennessey.

Dale was also 18 of 20 from the foul line while Hennessey made all four of its attempts.

Camdyn Richardson added five points for the Eagles while James Sims scored four.

Ranked fourth, Hennessey concluded its season with a 25-5 record.