WARR ACRES — Putnam City stayed undefeated in 6A-1 play with a 76-66 win over Yukon Tuesday (Jan. 7).

With the win, the Pirates moved to 9-1 and 5-0 in district play. PC is ahead of Deer Creek, who’s 4-1 after a buzzer-beater loss to Norman North also on Tuesday.

“We found a way, and at the end of the day, every game isn’t going to be pretty,” Putnam City coach Brandon Jackson said. “If we find a way to win, I’m happy with that.”

To earn the win Putnam City had to overcome an early 11-3 Yukon lead. The Pirates also had weather an early outburst by Yukon’s Tony Jeffries. The senior scored 11 points in the first quarter with three 3-pointers.

PC had an outside weapon of their own in JaColby Williams. The senior scored the Pirates’ first 11 points to tie the game with 3:42 left in the first quarter. Sophomore Gabe Osborne added a bucket off of a steal to to give Putnam City a 13-11 lead.

Yukon re-took the lead, extending it to seven points (22-15) with :27 left in the opening quarter thanks to back-to-back treys by Jeffries. Williams cut it back to four points with a 3-pointer while being well-defended by Jeffries with :07 left.

The Pirates took a slim 39-37 lead into halftime and the lead went back and forth in the third quarter. Tied at 52-52, the Pirates’ Kelton Locke drove to the bucket had the ball knocked out of his hands, he was able to gather it back and put up a floater before the quarter ended, giving Putnam City at 54-52 lead.

In the fourth quarter, Putnam City extended the lead to 66-59 on a bucket by Osborne with 3:53 left.

Yukon had a rash of fouls including three-in-a-row from Jeffries. On the third foul, Locke hit the first free throw, missed the second but was able to get the put-back shot to make it 69-59 with 2:07 left.

Jackson said Locke is not the usual vocal leader on the team.

“You’re not gonna hear him talk a lot., but he’s our leader and everyone else has to match his intensity,” Jackson said. “The last two years and he hasn’t won a lot of games . . . so he’s he’s he’s ready to win and lead the team to so hopefully a lot more victories, but his energy, his effort is second to none.”

Locke scored 17 points including 10 in the second half.

Williams finished with 18 points with four 3-pointers. While he only scored four second-half points, Jackson said he made contributions defensively.

Sophomore Mar’Quell Robinson added 15 points, including eight points in the third quarter.

Osborne followed with 11 points, including eight points in the final quarter.

Jackson said Robinson and senior Johnn Sheffey “did a great job” defending Jeffries, who finished with a game-high 24 points and knocked down four treys.

“Even though Tony had a great game, he had to work for it,” Jackson said.

On Sheffey, Jackson said. “I don’t think there’s many players if any player are strong as physical as John, and he loves to be physical. That was a perfect matchup for him.”

Jackson praised his assistant coaches.

“They put together a great scouting report on Yukon and amazing game plan. They do a lot of work behind the scenes and we wouldn’t have had the success without them.”

UP NEXT

Putnam City (9-1, 5-0) will play in the ConocoPhillips/ARVEST Invitational at Bartlesville Thursday (Jan. 9-11).

The Pirates meet 3A’s top-ranked team, Millwood, Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

“It’s a huge game for us,” Jackson said of playing Millwood. “We’re excited to to have the opportunity to compete.”

The Falcons beat 4A’s second-ranked Crossings Christian, 60-55, in overtime Tuesday.

	1	2	3	4	F
Yukon (4-6, 1-4)	22	15	15	14	66
Putnam City (9-1, 5-0)	18	21	15	22	76