BETHANY — Bethany coach Josh Holliday told his players that a team might be able to recover from one lapse in a playoff game.

“You’ve got to just shorten those lapses and how bad they are, but, if you have two really big ones, you can’t fight back from the second one.”

The Bronchos stormed back an early deficit but couldn’t handle the second lapse in a 62-53 loss to Oklahoma Christian School Tuesday (Feb. 24.).

The loss sent the 11th-ranked Bronchos (20-6) to the verge of elimination in the consolation bracket of the 4A Area I Regional playoffs.

The Saints (15-8) used a physical style of play and took advantage of Bethany turnovers to open up a double-digit lead in the first half.

OCS senior forward James Huffmyer scored 10 of his 15 points in the first quarter and by the middle of the second quarter, the game was getting away from the Bronchos.

Oklahoma Christian School was taking the fight to Bethany. Holliday would even say his players were shying away from the physical play.

“That’s what happens when he shy away from it,” Holliday said. “We talked about the physicality and what playoff basketball looks like.”

Trailing 30-16 with 2:48 before halftime, Bethany senior Denton Jaggers took the ball in the backcourt and finally struck back.

Jaggers went coast-to-coast for a bucket and a foul. Jaggers missed the free throw but it was a harbinger of things to come.

Jaggers and sophomore Breck Brady scored the last six points of the half and Bethany’s deficit was cut to six points, 30-24.

A Jaggers block opened the third quarter. Senior Jagger Weaver sank a big 3-pointer. Brady kept cleaning up down low, grabbing big rebounds and getting putbacks.

Brady muscled a bucket between two defenders to tie the game just before the end of the third quarter at 39.

Neither team scored for the first minute and a half in the fourth quarter. Then, Bethany’s second lapse and OCS senior guard Hudson Onan provided the knockout punch.

Off a Bethany offensive foul, Onan sank a 3-pointer. The Bronchos followed with a turnover. Onan drained another trey and then another from way beyond the arc.

Holliday called timeout to try and stop the bleeding or Onan probably would have tried for a fourth straight 3-pointer.

In about a minute and a half of game clock time, the deficit was now nine points and the Saints were rejuvenated.

The Bronchos wouldn’t get much closer. Onan scored 16 of his game-high 30 points in the final period.

Holliday coached Onan as a freshman so he wasn’t surprised by the outburst.

“Love Hudson Onan. He’s a heck of a player, heck of a kid and heck of a worker.”

Brady led Bethany with 16 points with eight points in the second quarter alone. Jaggers added 10 points, including eight points in the second quarter.

Junior Wyatt Keefer returned from an injury he suffered during the football season with six points. Keefer added some physical play but was limited with foul trouble.

The Saints were able to get to the free throw line and turn their chances into points, hitting 15-of-18 from the stripe. The Bronchos were 3-of-7 from the free throw line.

Holliday said his players’ playoff inexperience was evident.

“This was their first crack at (playoff basketball) and they got to see it,” Holliday said. “So that’s usually the the M.O. at this group, they have to go through something to experience it, and then they’re like, okay, this is how it is. Then, they figure out how they fit that equation.

“Hopefully that we can match that the rest of the way.”

UP NEXT

Bethany (20-5) plays the winner of Clinton and Elk City Friday (Feb. 27) at 7:30 p.m. at Weatherford.

The Red Tornadoes (4-20) were routed by sixth-ranked Weatherford last Saturday in the district playoffs. The Elks (2-21) fell to Woodward, 64-34, in district action.

Bethany beat both teams in the regular season during Western Athletic Conference play. The Bronchos routed Clinton, 70-37 on Feb. 12 and added an 80-33 thumping of Elk City on Jan. 30.

A win Friday sends Bethany to the consolation final against John Marshall (11-14) or Woodward (17-9) Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Weatherford. The winner advances to the next round, the Area I playoffs. A loss in either contest ends the Bronchos’ season.

“Our backs are against the wall,” Holliday said. “It’s win or go home. 
We’re gonna really find out what we’re really made of.”

	1	2	3	4	F
Oklahoma Christian School (15-8)	17	13	9	23	62
Bethany (20-6)	8	16	15	14	53