OKLAHOMA CITY — Putnam City North senior Khai Brown scored 21 points and was crowned Winter Homecoming King as the Panthers beat Edmond Santa Fe, 62-52, Friday (Jan. 17) in a 6A-2 game.

Brown hit two 3-pointers and dished out eight assists.

North coach DJ Lemons praised Brown for his consistency.

“I just want him to continue to stay consistent and continue to lead the guys, especially on intangible things. As hard as he plays, I want him to have that same type of energy and contagious effort and hopefully pass on to the rest of his teammates,” Lemons said.

The Panthers (12-5, 5-2) opened the game with a 9-1 run, but the Wolves came back within a bucket, 19-17, to end the first quarter.

North widened the lead in the second quarter as four different players drilled 3-pointers and the Panthers led 38-26 at halftime.

“It’s a game of runs,” Lemons said. “They made some good timely adjustments. It took us it took us a while to get adjusted to things, but when we figured things out, man, we we got rolling and going.”

In the third quarter, the gap stayed largely the same. The quarter ended with North junior Avery Lehman hitting a jumper before the buzzer to make it 51-38.

Santa Fe had another surge in them for the fourth quarter.

Trailing 54-38, the Wolves went on a 14-1 run to cut North’s lead to 55-52 with 1:51 left in the game.

The Panthers answered with a trey from sophomore Mekhi Thomas with 1:10 left. From there, Santa Fe was held scoreless and North hit a couple of free throws and bucket to seal the win.

Lemons said he asked Thomas to shoot 10 treys a game.

“I know he probably look at me crazy, but he’s one of the better shooters in the state,” Lemons said. “When he’s on, it’s hard for teams to game plan and guard us.”

Thomas finished with 12 points on four 3-pointers (including two in the final quarter). He attempted eight treys for the game.

Senior Anthony Leonard added 13 points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals.

“He’s been playing better and better each game,” Lemons said of Leonard. “He’s starting to play a little bit more into control.”

After a rout of Lawton Eisenhower Tuesday, the Panthers had to adjust to a man defense instead of a zone which they usually see. And, Lemons said the tight finish will be beneficial.

“This team is still learning how to win and we need games like that,” Lemons said. “When we make a to state, it’s gonna be games like that, and we need to be able to capitalize.”

UP NEXT

North travels to Piedmont Tuesday (Jan. 21) at 7:30 p.m.

The Wildcats beat Lawton Eisenhower Friday, 73-49.

Photographs courtesy of Richard T. Clifton

	1	2	3	4	F
Edmond Santa Fe (6-8, 2-5)	17	9	12	14	52
Putnam City North (12-5, 5-2)	19	19	13	11	62