62 and counting

Not since March 10, 2017, had the Kingfisher boys played a team ranked higher than them.

That run came to an end last Tuesday night, but the Yellowjackets’ home win streak did not.

Class 4A’s No. 4 Kingfisher pulled away from second-ranked Tuttle in the second half to earn a 58-40 victory at the APB.

It was the first time the Jackets had played a higher-ranked team since the 2017 Class 4A championship when then No. 3 KHS knocked off No. 1 Fort Gibson.

KHS has since played teams also ranked No. 1 in their respective classes (Kingston in 2018 Tournament of Champions and Edmond Memorial in last season’s Edmond Open), but none who were ranked higher.

The win also extended the Jackets’ streak to 62 straight home wins. Their last loss on the APB court was Dec. 13, 2016…to the Tuttle Tigers.

This year’s Tiger team got a quick 5-0 jump on KHS to kickstart a high-scoring first quarter for both teams.

Tuttle led 16-14 late in the first quarter before Xavier Ridenour buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key off an inbounds set.

The Jackets never trailed again.

They were up 30-25 at halftime and then started the third with a 9-0 run.

After scoring 16 points in the first quarter, Tuttle didn’t score double digits in any of the final three.

The Tigers were without a pair of potential starters in Mason Stokes and Tylor McCarthey, both of whom played in the previous Friday’s 4A football title game loss to Clinton.

With the Tigers’ depth taking that hit in their season opener, Kingfisher coaches continued to put fresh legs on the court as they rotated nine players and pushed the pace.

Tuttle couldn’t keep up, especially when hit with foul trouble.

“The guys they were missing will definitely make them better and we’d have some trouble, especially with one of them,” head coach Jared Reese said.

“But we would have played them the same way and kept attacking them.”

The Jackets improved from beyond the arc from their own season opener as they shot 8 of 22.

Ridenour made four of those en route to his gamehigh 19 points.

The Jackets got a boost from senior Chase Davis who made his season debut.

He came off the bench to score 14 points.

Davis knocked down a pair of treys as did Maddox Mecklenburg.

Mecklenburg scored six to go with team-highs of eight rebounds and four assists.

KHS was also dramatically better at the foul line than it was in the season opener at Chisholm.

The Jackets went 18 of 23 this time around.

Caden Kitchens made all five of his opportunities and scored 11 points.

However, Kingfisher did commit 13 turnovers, which led to nine Tiger points. Several came as the Jackets tried to get going in their half-court sets.

“When we’re able to run our sets, it looks just like it has for us the last few years,” Reese said. “But we’re struggling a little bit more in getting them started. We have to be better at that.”

The Jackets also out-rebounded Tuttle 28-21.

Kitchens added six boards while Jax Sternberger pulled down five.

Tuttle was led by Garrett Redwine’s 19 points. He scored 13 in the first half.

Isaac McDoulett added 15 points.