LIONS DONE

As the team was warming up for the second half on Tuesday evening, Kingfisher High School boys assistant coach Danny Green took off on a sprint back to the locker room at State Fair Arena.

Green’s job was to free Cash Slezickey, who managed to get locked inside as the rest of the team made its exit and the door was locked from the outside.

Slezickey grabbed his phone, called some Kingfisher fans and got word to coaches that he’d like to play in the second half.

With Slezickey on the court, No. 1 Kingfisher started that second half with its most dominant stretch of the game in what turned out to be a 41-28 victory against Blanchard in the Class 4A state quarterfinals.

The win moved the Jackets into the semifinals for the fifth consecutive time. They played No. 4 Crossings Christian School on Friday night (after press time) in the semifinals.

A win there would put Kingfisher into the state title game for the fifth time since 2017.

“We would have noticed before the half started,” said coach Jared Reese on when it would have hit coaches they were one player short. “Cash starts for us, so we would have realized it soon enough.”

Modern technology allowed them to know sooner and with Slezickey on the floor, KHS turned a ninepoint halftime lead into a 33-15 advantage in just over three minutes.

Chase Davis sandwiched a steal with a pair of 3-pointers in the half’s first two minutes.

After Blanchard scored a quick bucket, Drake Friesen buried another 3-pointer and Jud Birdwell hit a pair of free throws for the 18-point lead at 4:57.

Although KHS didn’t score again the rest of the quarter and Blanchard scored five straight, the Lions never challenged Kingfisher’s lead.

They were never able to get it back to single digits. A three-point play by Cole Milam to pull his team within 39-28 with 2:21 to go was as close as they got.

That’s because Kingfisher’s suffocating defense once again told the story of the day.

Blanchard only attempted 27 field goals and shot just 37 percent. Kingfisher forced the Lions into 16 turnovers.

The turnovers never allowed Blanchard to get any kind of consistent offense flowing.

“We just try to force teams to do things they’re not comfortable doing,” Reese said. “Our pressure was able to disrupt a lot of what they tried. Our guys executed it really well.”

It helped offset the fact Kingfisher only shot 36 percent overall itself.

The difference, though, was beyond the arc.

While Blanchard made just 2 of 5 from downtown, the Jackets were a red-hot 9 of 19, a 21-point difference.

All five KHS starters hit from downtown in the first half as the team went 6 of 11.

Two of those came from Maddox Mecklenburg in the first quarter.

Slezickey and Caden Kitchens also had first-quarter treys as the team led 13-9 after one.

Xavier Ridenour started the second with a trey and Davis ended it with one as KHS slowly built up its lead.

Davis eventually was 3 of 4 from deep to score all nine of his points. He also had three rebounds and two blocks.

Mecklenburg scored eight points while Kitchens added five and had a gamehigh nine rebounds.

Ridenour was Kingfisher’s top scorer with 11 points while Slezickey scored three.

It was the second straight year for KHS to beat Blanchard at state. The Jackets won 46-34 in the 2021 quarterfinals en route to winning the state crown.

The win was Kingfisher’s 12th straight this season as it improved to 26-1.

It was also the program’s seventh straight win in the state tournament, dating back to the 2018 championship game.

Crossings Christian won its fourth straight state game Tuesday when it beat Holland Hall 45-40 in overtime in the quarterfinals.

The Knights were Class 3A champs last year before being bumped to 4A this season.

In other quarterfinal games, Weatherford stunned No. 3 Heritage Hall 77-63 behind a 32-point performance from Cade Jennings.

The Eagles played Victory Christian in the semifinals Friday after the Conquerors defeated Mount St. Mary 60-53 in the first round.