THE NEW STANDARD

This one belongs to them.

As the clock ran down on Kingfisher’s basketball state championship in 2021, a group of youngsters got ready to storm the court to celebrate with a core of seniors who left an indelible mark on the program.

But not one - as it turned out - that couldn’t be duplicated.

In front of a partisan State Fair Arena crowd on Saturday, those same “youngsters”pulled off what most felt was the unlikely when they dominated yet another fourth quarter to claim yet another gold ball for the program.

Top-ranked Kingfisher wrangled away the lead from No. 2 Victory Christian, then refused to let it go in a 51-43 victory in the Class 4A state championship game.

“They’re all different,” coach Jared Reese said of his state title teams. “This one and 2017 were the most surprising…2017 because we’d never been there before and this year because a lot of people didn’t think we could.”

The reasoning is simple: KHS graduated every starter from the 2021 squad.

Coming back was a core of juniors and a dash of seniors with nary a varsity start and, in the grand scheme, minuscule varsity minutes.

“But the thing is, the kids truly thought they were going to do this the whole time and we never gave them any reason to doubt it,” Reese said.

Do it they did.

The team finished with a 28-1 record, matching the best in school history.

It dominated the playoff run to state, including a 60-35 shellacking of Weatherford, a team that stunned Heritage Hall in the state quarterfinals and nearly knocked off Victory Christian in the semifinals.

These Yellowjackets ran through a gauntlet of a state bracket that included five private schools and two others from its own conference.

The Jackets knocked off last year’s Class 3A champion Crossings Christian School, which bumped up to 4A this season, in the semifinals and then beat Victory Christian, which many felt was the most talented squad in the class.

Along the way, it tied last year’s record for fewest points allowed in three state tournament games (107).

The title is the third straight for KHS if you exclude the 2020 tournament that was never played.

The program that had never experienced a state title game prior to 2017 now matches the storied KHS girls program with four gold balls and a silver.

Prior to that 2017 season, the Yellowjackets had a 3-9 record in nine previous state tournament appearances.

In the last five, again excluding 2020, they’re 14-1 with the four titles in a classification that was previously dominated by private schools or those from the Oklahoma City or Tulsa public systems.

Each of the previous three titles had their own identity.

While most on this year’s team also earned rings from last season, the roles were limited at best.

“Last year’s state championship I have always viewed as my brother’s championship and his team’s accomplishment,” said Xavier Ridenour, whose elder sibling Maverick started for the 2021 squad.

“This year I saw an opportunity that our team could get their own state championship and it feels that much more special knowing I could contribute to a goal we were all so hungry for.”

Jud Birdwell’s brother, Jarret, also started last season.

“Winning the title this year was a lot different for me because I got to contribute and be a part of it,” Jud said. “Being on the floor when the buzzer went off was just a feeling that I didn’t get last year.”

Ridenour and Birdwell replicated their brothers’ feats by doing what they’ve done all year.

They defended the Conquerors tirelessly for four quarters and eventually wore them down.

A rotating cast of Ridenour, Birdwell, Cash Slezickey, Caden Kitchens, Drake Friesen, Jax Sternberger, Maddox Mecklenburg and senior Chase Davis outlasted a Victory Christian team that featured a much smaller bench.

“They just didn’t play a lot of guys,” Reese said. “And while their best player is really good, we figured if we made him work for 32 minutes, we’d wear him out.”

And that was the case. Victory’s silky smooth

Victory’s silky smooth and athletic guard Joshua Udoumoh had 14 points through three quarters and his team boasted a 35-33 lead.

But he also started the fourth quarter on the bench as coach Ryan Wakley tried to get him a few precious extra moments of rest.

“When they took out Udoumoh to rest him, we knew we were getting the desired effect,” Kitchens said.

Victory was able to get Udoumoh back into the game without any damage on the scoreboard, but that wouldn’t last.

Kitchens tied the score with 7:41 to play before Udoumoh put the Conquerers back on top with a jumper at 6:28.

What came next was a decisive stretch of basketball.

It only lasted 1:31 on the clock, but it decidedly turned the game in Kingfisher’s favor.

It started with a Davis 3-pointer at the 5:40 mark. His fourth trey of the game put the Jackets up 38-37.

“That was so big,” Reese said. “We had tried a couple of different plays that didn’t get anywhere, but the guys didn’t force anything. On the third try, we set a flare screen for him and he made the big shot.”

Kingfisher’s defense got a stop on the other end and Reese set up a clear-out for Mecklenburg on the right side.

He delivered with a basket for a 40-37 lead with 5:06 to play.

Yet another denial by the defense led to a Kitchens basket off a lob play.

“It had been open twice before,” Reese said. “We dropped it once and the second time it worked. Usually it won’t work a third time, but they were tired and we got better at running it.”

Mecklenburg made the delivery to Kitchens and suddenly the Jackets were up 42-37.

That score lasted only 10 seconds as Kitchens got a steal on the ensuing trap on the baseline near the bucket. Another quick basket and - just like that - Kingfisher’s two-point deficit was a 44-37 advantage with 4:09 showing on the clock.

“We looked like a fresh team during that sequence,” Reese said. “It looked like it was over.

“It wasn’t over yet, but it felt like it.”

On the court, Mecklenburg could sense it, too.

“At that moment, I felt very good about our chances to win,” he said. “I was confident our defense would not allow them the opportunity to make a run.”

He was right.

The Conquerors never got closer than six points and nearly every Jacket contributed something big down the stretch.

• Ridenour drew a charge with 3:28 to go;

• After Mecklenburg missed a front end of a one-and-one, Kitchens grabbed the offensive rebound, giving the Jackets another possession that he turned into two free throws and a 46-37 lead with 1:21 left;

• Ridenour and Mecklenburg made four straight free throws to push the lead to 10;

• After Victory Christian made a 3-pointer to cut its deficit to 50-43 with 35 seconds left and forced a KHS turnover, Sternberger immediately drew a charge to end the threat;

• Birdwell stripped Michael Doctor, which led to a jump ball, which went Kingfisher’s way.

In all, KHS outscored Victory Christian 18-8 in the fourth. The Conquerors went 5:22 without scoring as Kingfisher went on an 11-0 run.

“The coaches told us that it wasn’t going to be won in the first half or even the first three quarters,” Kitchens said. “We knew it was going to come down to the very end. It seemed like everyone made a play when we needed it.”

And that’s what Reese and assistants Chris Combs and Danny Green trusted all season.

The staff tinkered with different starting lineups before settling on one after the Christmas break. Still, the rotations were consistent and everyone caught frequent breathers.

“Probably the worst thing about this year is we could only start five guys when we’ve really felt we’ve had eight starters,” Reese said. “Most started at some point in time, but we trusted each one of them like a starter.

“Sometimes the minutes may not equal out, but it was due more to that game, not a lack of trust.”

The only one in the rotation to not start all season was Friesen.

Yet there he was on the floor in the final crucial seconds in Friday’s 39-36 semifinal win against Crossings Christian.

Mecklenburg had knocked down two pressure-packed free throws with 15 seconds to play to give the Jackets a threepoint lead.

After the Knights called a timeout with 8 seconds on the clock, Reese sent out his best defensive unit, which included Friesen and Birdwell.

That duo as well as Ridenour’s pressure on Crossings’ Reid Lovelace forced a contested 3-pointer that missed.

It sent Kingfisher into the title game for the fifth consecutive time.

Getting there and winning it was the goal and Friesen was bought in.

“I knew that to be successful this year and to win games, everyone was going to have to have a role on this team,” Friesen said. “I knew early on what my role was so everyday starting in practice I just tried to perfect my role and my duties on the team to the best of my abilities.

“Starting was never the most important thing for me. I knew what the end goal was for us, so I just tried to help the team any way I was needed.”

The unselfishness wasn’t limited to Friesen. In fact, it was the norm.

“That’s what made us better,” Birdwell said. “We didn’t care who scored the most or got the most rebounds. We played as a team to get the win because that’s what matters.”

The wins, at times, weren’t easy.

Early in the year, the Jackets were slow starters.

“I don’t know how many games it happened this year. It seemed to us like it was every one of them, but we would start by being down four or five points before we’d score,” Reese said.

There were narrow wins. There were ugly wins. There was even a loss.

But two things were constant: Defense and effort.

Teams struggled to score all season and they also left the court knowing they’d been outworked.

It was by design.

“I think that was our calling card,” Reese said. “The only thing they can control is how hard they play. They might dribble it off their foot or shoot an airball, but they can still control their effort.

“Teams would try to match that and they’d run out of gas.”

Sternberger scored five points in the title game. He became a part of the first wave of substitutions each game along with Friesen and Birdwell.

“It was our goal all season to wear teams down,” Sternberger said. “The coaches trusted all the guys going out there and we knew our depth could break down teams.”

In the semifinals, three Knights starters played every minute.

In the finals, four Conquerers played more than 28 minutes.

Only Mecklenburg and Kitchens hit the 28-minute mark for the Jackets in the final game and only Davis did in the semifinals.

“While other teams had to play at our pace the whole game, we all were rotated and got breaks so we were fresh,” Slezickey said. “We definitely had an advantage going eight deep and playing fast.”

That’s not to say the Jackets were without their own playmakers.

Davis scored the team’s first 10 points against Crossings Christian.

He had 14 of the team’s 21 points at halftime, which saw KHS trail by a point.

Kitchens came alive in the third quarter to score six points as the Jackets claimed a 31-27 lead entering the fourth.

That quarter started with a Ridenour 3-pointer.

The Jackets went quiet offensively for nearly five full minutes as the Knights got back into it.

Ridenour got a layup off a back cut with 1:16 left to push the Jackets up 37- 34. The play came after a timeout.

“We put that in that morning,” Reese said of the play that sprung Ridenour free. “It didn’t look great the first time we ran it, so we made one variation during the timeout and it worked.”

That was another characteristic of this team that made it nearly unbeatable, Reese said.

“This team is so smart, you can do things like that,” he said. “You can put in new stuff and change it on the fly and they’re going to pick it up.”

Crossings drew within 37-36 on a Lovelace basket with 26 seconds left. Kingfisher was able to knock 11 seconds off the clock before the Knights fouled Mecklenburg.

He gathered himself for the most important free throws of his life.

“In all honesty, I stepped up to the line and a calm peace came over me,” he said. “I felt confident in myself that I would be able to hit them.”

He did and Kingfisher eventually forced Lovelace into a forced 3-pointer that allowed it to escape with the win.

Kitchens scored 11 and Ridenour added nine, but it was Davis who came through with 16 points and six rebounds to lead the team.

The Jackets - as Reese pointed out they’ve done all season - got behind Victory Christian 5-0 to start the championship game.

It took more than two minutes for them to score.

It was Davis who broke through with a 3-pointer.

He scored the team’s first five points this time, but got more help than the night before.

Ridenour added five in the quarter and Kitchens and Sternberger both contributed their own buckets as the teams found themselves tied 14-all.

Davis’ trey at 5:57 of the second quarter became Kingfisher’s only points for more than 4:45…when Davis knocked down yet another shot from long range.

That ended a 7-0 Victory Christian run and pulled the Jackets within 23-20.

The Conquerors got it back to five points before Sternberger’s 3-pointer got KHS within 25-23 at halftime.

“Every time Victory felt like they were going to get control, we had someone step up and hit a big shot,” Reese said.

The Jackets were playing constant catch-up throughout the third quarter.

Ridenour knocked down a pair of treys and scored eight points in the frame. Friesen added another basket while being fouled.

Still, Kingfisher never got closer than a point and was behind 35-33 going into the last quarter of the season.

“We realized there were only eight minutes left to decide who brought home the gold,” Ridenour said. “So we all put in whatever we had left in us and it paid off.”

Ridenour finished the title game with 15 points. He was named to The Oklahoman’s all-tournament first team and Tulsa World’s second team.

Kitchens scored 10 and grabbed nine rebounds. He was a first-team selection by the Tulsa World.

Davis was named the Most Valuable Player by both publications.

He scored 14 points and had four rebounds in the championship. He went 4 of 6 from 3-point range and was 6 of 12 over the final two games.

Davis is part of the group that got the front row seat, but little playing time, his first few years in the program.

“It was tough, but at the same time it was worth it,” he said. “Everyone knows those guys for winning and I got to see the behind-the-scenes and that they put in a ton of work.

“We played them everyday in practice and that made us so much better.”

Mecklenburg joined Sternberger in scoring five. He had a combined nine assists over the last two games.

Victory Christian was led by Udoumoh’s 19 points.

Luke Patton, the team’s 6-foot-6 post, scored 11 points.

The Conquerers were 6 of 12 from 3-point range, but just 9 of 26 (34.6 percent) from inside the arc.

“We wanted to force them out away from the basket,” Reese said. “They’re so much bigger and stronger at every position, so we wanted to force them away and make those shots just a little tougher, which is what we’ve done all year.”

Kingfisher - the smaller, weaker team - was 10 of 15 from two-point range and made eight total 3-pointers.

Reese said the team also focused on not surrendering offensive rebounds to Victory Christian.

After the Conquerors collected six in the first half, they had just three in the second.

“I don’t think we were that pleased with our defense or anything for that matter in the first half,” Reese said. “In the second half, we just did everything a little better and with Victory not playing as many guys, they just didn’t have the energy.”

The energy was all Kingfisher’s down the stretch.

As the final moments ticked off the clock, Reese tried to hold back the players from rushing the court too soon.

But, like he did 29 times this season, eventually he just turned them loose.

Like 2017 and 2019 and 2021, these Yellowjackets had made history.

They helped match last year’s best four-year run as the Yellowjackets have gone 107-4 since the start of the 2018-19 season.

During the magical sixyear run, KHS is 163-8, meaning it’s won an un imaginable 95.3 percent of its games.

But before this year, those wins and titles belonged to the likes of Marco and Trevor and Haynes and Jett and Trey and Reece and Matthew and Bijan and Jarret and Ian and many other contributors.

But this one was earned by a new batch of Jackets.

“Winning state last year felt absolutely surreal,” said Mecklenburg, who was the closest thing to a regular contributor to 2021’s gold ball.

“But this year was different. Knowing that your contributions were worth more this year than in the past certainly made this one feel a little bit sweeter.”

Slezickey agreed.

“If you think of 2021, you think of Bijan and Matt. But when you think of 2022, you think of us. This one just felt like a bigger accomplishment because we weren’t just along for the ride.

“We actually did it ourselves.”

CHAMPIONSHIP BOX SCORE

Kingfisher 51

Victory Christian 43

Victory Christian 14 11 10 8 - 43

Kingfisher 14 9 10 18 - 51

Victory Christian – Joshua Udoumoh 19, Luke Patton 11, Michael Doctor 4, Solomon Granderson 3, Caleb Farquhar 3, Jude Malhi 3.

Kingfisher – Xavier Ridenour 15, Chase Davis 14, Caden Kitchens 10, Jax Sternberger 5, Maddox Mecklenburg 5, Drake Friesen 2.