Witnessing basketball history

There’s so much to cover, so much to talk about, so much to dissect on the Kingfisher boys basketball program, its recent run and its most recent state championship.

The coaches. The players. The history.

There isn’t enough newspaper space to talk about it all, but we’ll take a crack at some things that have made the last few years so special...

• • •

We haven’t seen it before.

We won’t see it again.

It’s not a knock on groups of the past nor those yet to come.

But history is made because it rarely happens.

What we’ve been fortunate enough to witness since 2017 makes us blessed basketball fans.

Because you simply won’t see it again.

Proof?

Del City had a magical season.

The Eagles and head coach Lenny Hatchett won the Class 6A boys championship and went 22-4 along the way.

Four losses.

That’s a fantastic year.

Carl Albert. The 5A champs. The Titans were 23-4 this season (one of those L’s thanks to Kingfisher).

Four losses.

Tremendous year.

Cashion goes to the 2A quarterfinals for just the fourth time in the program’s history.

The Wildcats were 214.

Four losses. Undeniably a remarkable season.

That brings us to Bijan Cortes, Matthew Stone and Jarret Birdwell in Kingfisher uniforms.

28-1.

28-1.

26-1.

25-1.

That’s 107-4.

When Kingfisher took the floor during that trio’s career, it won 96.4 percent of its games.

That’s a better win clip than any recorded four-year stretch in Oklahoma high school boys basketball history.

Other groups have won more games during a four-year stretch (all of them in the A and B ranks, which can play more games in a season).

No program had lost as few as four games in a fouryear stretch. In fact, no team had lost as few as five.

Until Kingfisher.

It’s better than Oklahoma Christian School from 2004-07. The Saints were 104-6 (.945). They had a dude named Blake Griffin.

Hammon featured the Minor twins from 1989-92. They were 123-7 (.946).

The Jackets, again, were .964.

The losses are so rare, you can remember each of them:

- Heritage Hall in the 2018 state championship game;

- Booker T Washington in the 2018 Tournament of Champions semifinals (2018-19 season);

- Bethany in the 2020 4A area championship;

- Edmond Memorial in the 2020 Edmond Open championship (2020-21 season).

“We went looking for two of those losses,” KHS head coach Jared Reese noted.

To beef up its schedule, the Jackets joined the Tournament of Champions fray in 2018-19. If not, the Jackets very well may have gone undefeated.

They were set to play in the TofC this season as well, but it was canceled due to COVID.

Two days after learning of the cancellation, Kingfisher was lacing it up as a late entry into the Edmond Open. They wanted to find someone capable of beating them.

Think about it

107-4.

Garber was the Class A runner-up this season. The Wolverines were 22-5.

The average number of losses for this year’s 4A state tournament field not named Kingfisher?

Five-plus.

And this isn’t to take away from any team mentioned above. Without any hint of sarcasm of condescension, those teams had memorable seasons.

Historic in their own right.

But the groups Kingfisher put on the court, the last four years especially, were next level.

They had two undefeated regular seasons (2018 and 2020)...never before done at KHS.

They had a 47-game win streak that spanned parts of the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons and was longer than a calendar year.

It’s the seventh best such streak for a high schoolboys program. Ever.

They were legendary.

They were truly historic.

The numbers prove it.

And we’ll never see it again.

• • •

I was in a group text the night before Kingfisher played Heritage Hall in the Class 4A boys basketball state championship game.

Among the others in the group was assistant coach Chris Combs.

When he sent a text through at about 5:30 p.m., I jokingly said, “Combs, quit texting and watch film. Turn off your phone.”

He answered that he needed some time to decompress; that he knew everything there was to know about Heritage Hall.

We all knew this already - and it was proven the next day.

Very few teams escape a Chris Combs scouting report... especially when it’s paired with the legendary teams that have graced the KHS uniforms the last five seasons.

The very next night - March 13, 2021 - Kingfisher won its third state championship since 2017 at State Fair Arena with a 48-40 victory over the rival Heritage Hall Chargers.

Among the storylines from the night were the two masterful performances that took place in that one game.

One belonged to Trey Alexander, the elite guard for the Chargers who put on a shooting display in scoring 16 first-half points to help his team build up a lead as large as 11 points.

Alexander knocked down a trio of treys (pun intended) in the half, all with hands in his face, one from very deep and another as he was falling down.

He glided to the rim for a pair of breathtaking drives and made fadeaways off the glass.

It was reminiscent of his second-half performance in 2018 when Heritage Hall beat the Jackets for the title.

Alexander showed why many - of course most of them live outside of Kingfisher - consider him the top Class of 2021 prospect in the state of Oklahoma.

Then, in the second half, Kingfisher showed why many - most of them live outside of the campus at 1800 NW 122nd St. in Oklahoma City - knew Kingfisher was the best team in Class 4A.

It was defense.

The Jackets - most notably Maverick Ridenour (See story on Page 1B in our March 17 edition), but every Jacket played a part held Alexander to just two second-half points.

It was nothing short of a remarkable defensive performance.

Alexander’s teammates, themselves knocking down shots in the first half to help build that lead, also largely disappeared offensively in the final 16 minutes.

Sure, there were some tweaks in the second half, but there wasn’t any major adjustment.

Reality just set in.

Kingfisher’s coaches Combs, Danny Green and Reese - were betting on the fact the Chargers couldn’t maintain their marksmanship, especially if they continued to make life tough for Alexander.

The scouting report Combs’ legendary scouting report - essentially said so.

So the Jackets maintained course...and we all watched it pay off.

After making 6 of 12 3-pointers in the first half, Heritage Hall was just 1 of 8 in the second half.

They made none over the final 8:13 of the game.

Alexander made 6 of his 13 first-half shots. In the second half...it was 1 of 7.

Again, most were with hands in his face. In the final two quarters, however, they just weren’t dropping.

That meant Kingfisher was raising the gold ball again and it was due in large part to the defense that once again set a state tournament record for the opponents’ point total over three games (107)...

Just as they did in 2019 (109)....

And just as they did in 2017 (113).

The defense, built on Combs’ hours of tedious preparation, won championships.

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. No team ever associated with Combs can be accused of preparing to fail.

• • •

Enough of that boring defensive stuff.

Let’s move on to offense...you know, the stuff that gets retweets and likes and sells tickets.

I geek out over offensive sets and inbounds plays.

I can’t “watch” a game like a coach does. I can’t witness a team run through a set and then diagram what each player did.

My mind doesn’t work like that.

But I know when I’ve watched a thing of beauty and thanks to Jared Reese, I get to watch a master class in offense almost every night.

KHS Athletic Director Jay Wood, a state championship coach and OGBCA hall of fame inductee, filled in to do color commentary during our broadcasts at the Tuttle games this season.

During the boys’ game, Wood said Reese was “one of the greatest offensive minds I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.”

I asked him who were the ones he’d had the displeasure of working with, but he declined comment and I digress.

But that’s Reese’s reputation far and wide.

On any given night, Kingfisher has 60-some (maybe more, Reese lost count) offensive sets and inbounds plays at the disposal.

Not all are in the game plan each night, but they’re there... just waiting...if Reese needs to call on them.

And some of them are brand new.

On the first play of the state title game - and on the play that put Kingfisher up 39-38 in the fourth quarter - the Jackets ran a set they implemented in their walkthrough.

The day of the game.

“It was something I thought would work against how I thought they were going to guard us,” Reese said. “So I just sort of threw it together.”

It wasn’t an elaborate play...just a double high screen to free up Bijan Cortes to drive and score in the lane.

But it was something Kingfisher hadn’t run all season and was specifically designed for what Heritage Hall was going to do.

And it worked...sometimes.

“We ended up running it probably 10 or 12 times,” Reese said. “If we got good screens, it usually worked. If not, we’d have to try something else.”

Reese said about 75 percent of what’s in his playbook wasn’t going to be useful in the finals (or most any given game), again, “because of how they were going to guard us.”

But watching that playbook executed on the floor these last several seasons has been like watching a master class of X’s and O’s.

Man-to-man. Zone. Press. Trap. Junk. The defenses didn’t matter... Reese had an answer for it. Sometimes it took a few swings, but there was always a hit

I was always excited to see Kingfisher with the ball coming out of a timeout or an inbounds play.

I knew something cool was going to happen...and it usually did.

• • •

For the record, on the night before the title game, Reese told me:

“I think the team that gets to 45 is going to win. It’s not going to be easy for us to score in the half court and they’re not going to give up a lot in transition. And I don’t think it’s going to be easy for them to score against us, either.”

Final score, if you’ll remember: 48-40.

• • •

Kingfisher had to battle back from shooting woes to win the game.

Basketball is sometimes - nay, usually - as simple as this: The team that makes shots wins.

Kingfisher did very early, then went cold for two quarters.

That’s when Heritage Hall, subsequently, found its most success.

The game went from a 10-3 Kingfisher advantage to a 27-16 deficit.

That success for Heritage Hall ended, essentially, at the 1:13 mark of the third quarter.

That’s when Sebastian Perry knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Chargers up 36-28.

Kingfisher dominated the rest of the game.

It started on the next offensive possession when the Jackets ran a set that ended with Matthew Stone squaring up for a 3-pointer at the top of the key.

It found its mark with 52 seconds left in the quarter.

It was Kingfisher’s first made 3-pointer since the first minute of the second quarter.

And, like Reese noted in our game story last week, never let the significance of that shot get lost, though it can be easy.

KHS down 5.

The Jackets forced a turnover with just seconds left in the quarter.

That was another huge development.

Cortes brought the ball down the court quickly, drove, then dished to his right to Maverick Ridenour, who was standing right in front of me.

He let fly a 3-pointer just before the buzzer sounded.

As it was in the air, it looked pure from my vantage point.

“If this goes in, this is a different game,” was the thought that floated through my head.

It did.

Ridenour held his follow-through as the 3-pointer fell through the net.

KHS down 2.

But it didn’t feel that way.

The Kingfisher crowd that Ridenour was facing as he shot erupted in elation.

The bench flew into action.

Ian Daugherty raised both fists in the air as he walked to the bench.

It was like he knew what was about to happen in the fourth quarter.

Stone flexed, then pointed down to the court with an index finger as if to say, “This. Is. Ours. Now.”

[Note: One of our great photographers - Russell Stitt - caught Ridenour’s shot at the release (Page 9) and Stone’s reaction (above).]

Cortes, always the laid-back soul, calmly walked over to give Ridenour props for the shot.

Ridenour soaked in the moment, then flexed himself.

The shots were falling.

The. Game. Was. Over.

• • •

Well, there’s Part I.

Like I said, a lot to cover.

Look for more thoughts on the KHS boys program in upcoming editions.

Also, see the advertisement on Page 9 of this edition regarding a fundraising dinner to help the team purchase state championship rings.