Yellowjackets buck Broncho upset bid

Eight different Kingfisher Yellowjackets scored in the team’s regular season finale.

Turns out, each and every point was needed.

The Jackets held off a second-half charge from Bethany Monday night to escape Paycom Center with a 51-50 victory.

Up 13 in the third, the Jackets surrendered all but two points of that lead by the end of the quarter and trailed by two after Bronchos’ freshman Wyatt Geissler nailed his fourth 3-pointer of the game early in the fourth.

But Kingfisher’s Chase Davis answered with his one 3-pointer from the corner – his third of the second half – to give the Jackets the lead for good.

But it wasn’t easy.

Buckets by Caden Kitchens and Drake Friesen saw KHS grow its advantage to six points, but Bethany didn’t go away.

Aiden Todd and Woods Harrell knocked down treys for the Bronchos as they continually kept within one possession of KHS.

The Jackets didn’t help themselves at the foul line.

At one point, they were just 3 for 8 in the fourth, including missing a pair of front ends of one-and-ones.

Two of those makes came from Cash Slezickey, whose steal thwarted a chance for Bethany to potentially tie the game and take the lead.

Slezickey picked off a pass from Todd, then drew the foul with 49 seconds to play.

His two free throws put KHS on top, 48-44.

It was 48-45 when Bethany worked the ball down to 6-foot-9 post Michal Wooldridge.

The senior scored, but was called for a travel prior to shooting.

Maddox Mecklenburg then went 1 for 2 from the charity stripe a second later. After a loose ball was picked up by Todd, he was fouled with 8.5 seconds left.

Todd made both to make it a two-point game.

KHS got the ball to Xavier Ridenour, the team’s leading scorer, who had yet to score a point.

Ridenour calmly made both free throws with 8.0 left for a 51-47 advantage.

After Bethany used its final timeout, Kingfisher hardly challenged the Bronchos on their final shot, which was a made 3-pointer.

The Jackets let time expire without inbounding the ball and closed the chapter on a 21-1 regular season.

It was the fifth straight year for KHS to have either one or no losses in the regular season.

The game was originally scheduled to be played in January, but Bethany was forced to postpone due to COVID-19 issues.

Also during the Christmas break, a sprinkler malfunction ruined Bethany’s home basketball court, forcing the team to play its home games elsewhere, which set up Monday’s opportunity to play at the home of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Jackets struggled early to score against Bethany’s zone with Wooldridge roaming the middle.

Meanwhile, Geissler hit two early treys as the Bronchos jumped on top 11-2.

Drake Friesen broke through with a 3-pointer for the Jackets, helping them close on an 11-2 run to tie the game.

KHS then outscored Bethany 13-3 in the second thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from Mecklenburg and another by Friesen.

The lead grew to more than a dozen in the third before the Bronchos themselves began to heat up from long range.

Geissler, Todd and Harrell all made 3-pointers to spark the Bethany comeback.

Wooldridge scored 15 to lead the Bronchos, but was just 5 of 11 from the foul line.

As a team, Bethany was 8 of 17.

Geissler scored 14.

Kitchens led the Jackets with 13 points.

Mecklenburg finished with 11, 10 of which came in the first half.

Davis sparked Kingfisher’s early third-quarter run with eight points and scored all 11 of his in the second half.

Friesen added eight for the Jackets.

• • • The Jackets didn’t keep up their recent run of 60-plus-points games on Friday.

But the defense made sure it didn’t matter.

A string of four straight games of scoring at least 60 points was snapped in the Jackets’ 48-17 home win.

KHS shot just 39 percent for the game, including 6 of 20 (30 percent) from 3-point range.

The Jackets had just eight points through the first quarter and just 21 at halftime.

But the Owls still never had a chance.

The visitors didn’t score until less than a minute remained in the first quarter and had just four points at halftime.

They shot 23.3 percent overall and 16.7 percent (2 of 12) from long range.

The Jackets out-rebounded Elgin 31-13 and forced 17 turnovers.

Caden Kitchens led the way with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Chase Davis added 10, including a breakaway dunk in the third quarter.

Xavier Ridenour also scored 10 for the Jackets.