BETHANY – A day after holding its first practice with a full squad, Bethany shook off the rust in the second half en route to a 53-44 comeback win over Kingfisher Tuesday (Dec. 10) in the Bronchos’ opener and Western Athletic Conference matchup.

Because of Bethany’s run to the semifinals in the Class 4A football playoffs, several starters and contributors hadn’t picked up a basketball and Kingfisher (2-1) took advantage in the first half.

Fueled by junior guard Hays White, the Yellowjackets opened up a double-digit lead on Bethany (1-0) in the second quarter and led 30-19 at halftime. White scored 18 points in the first half and finished with 24 for the game.

“We were able to watch some film we were trying to do something defensively that we didn’t do much of last year. On one day of practice, it wasn’t working,” Bethany coach Brett Cannon said.

Cannon and the Bronchos made the switch to back to their usual defense and it paid off.

Trailing by 11 points (33-22) with 7:00 in the third quarter, Bethany went on a 6-0 run with senior Garrett Johnson scoring four of the points and picking up a steal. By the end of the quarter, the Bronchos had tied Kingfisher, 37-37.

Early in the fourth quarter, Kingfisher made a pivotal mistake. Tied at 39-39, the Yellowjackets were hit with a technical foul for having six players on the floor. Senior Wyatt Geissler hit the technical free throw and followed that with a 3-pointer.

Bethany never looked back.

By the time Bethany senior Lukas Wooldridge dunked on the Jackets with 2:08, the lead was 50-44. Soon, Kingfisher was forced to foul and Bethany drained enough clock for the nine-point win.

Cannon said there was uncertainty if the game was going to be played if Bethany had beat Tuttle Friday (Dec. 6) to advance to the 4A football title game. But, with the football players having played for the Bronchos since they were sophomores, the transition was easier.

“It’s their third year in the system, so they know what to expect, even though they’ve been in football,” Cannon said.

Geissler finished with a game-high 25, including four second-half treys. Senior Aiden Todd added seven points.

After White’s first half outburst, the Bethany defense held him to six more points in the second half.

“We were just trapping it, get it out of his hand and make somebody else beat us,” Cannon said. “Just try to take him out of the game, make him give it up to some of those role guys that don’t want to shoot ball.”

WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
BOYS BASKETBALL STANDINGS

	OVERALL RECORD	CONFERENCE RECORD
Blanchard	2-1	2-0
Chickasha	2-1	1-1
Clinton	2-2	1-1
Newcastle	1-2	1-0
Anadarko	3-0	1-0
Bethany	1-0	1-0
Weatherford	2-0	0-0
Kingfisher	2-1	0-1
Tuttle	0-2	0-1
Elk City	0-2	0-1
Cache	0-3	0-2

UP NEXT

The Bronchos travel to northwest Arkansas for the Cardinal Classic in Farmington starting Thursday (Dec. 12) at 6:30 p.m. Bethany opens with Lakeside High School out of Hot Springs (5-1 in 5A). On Friday, the Bronchos play Forrest City (5-1 in 4A) at 4:30 p.m. and on Saturday, Bethany meets host Farmington (7-1 in 4A) at 11 a.m.

The Bronchos will have to make an adjustment as Arkansas has a 35-second shot clock for high school basketball. Oklahoma does not. Cannon said his squad is looking forward to faster pace of play.

“It’ll help just getting away,” Cannon said of playing in the out-of-state festival. “You can experiment with some stuff. So, we’re going to mess around with some lineups. We’re going to mess around with some, some personnel stuff. We’ll come out there and see what works and what doesn’t.”

	1	2	3	4	F
Kingfisher (2-1)	11	19	7	7	44
Bethany (1-0)	10	9	18	19	53

Photographs courtesy of Kristie Escoe of Life in Action Photography.