STROUD — Bethany earned a measure of revenge and more importantly a spot in the 4A state tournament with a 61-53 win over Oklahoma Christian School Saturday (March 7).

The win came after the 14th-ranked Saints beat the 11th-ranked Bronchos in the regional round of the playoffs on Feb. 24.

“So proud of this group! They deserve every bit of this cause they’ve earned it,” Bethany coach Josh Holliday said via text. “Fought through foul trouble. Just a very physical playoff basketball game and they stayed together through it all.”

Bethany (25-6) led for most of the contest but couldn’t put OCS away. Saint junior Hudson Struckel put up an underhanded circus shot before going out of bounds to cut Bethany’s lead to five points, 56-51 with 2:16 left.

The Bronchos drained nearly 40 seconds off the clock before OCS was forced to foul. Sophomore Dempsey Neal hit both free throws to make it 58-51.

On the other end, sophomore Breck Brady cleaned up on the boards after a missed Saint shot.

Bethany went back to the stall, even though the Bronchos almost turned it over. The clock was 56.6 when OCS got the ball back after a missed Brady shot.

Saint senior James Huffmyer, a spark early in the game for OCS, went to the bucket but the ball slipped out of bounds for a turnover with 44.2 left.

The Saints pressed in the back court and then the fouls continued. Brady hit 1 of 2 shots from the free throw line. Huffmyer added two free shots to make it 59-53 with 34 seconds left.

Senior Denton Jaggers was fouled in the back court and sank 1 of 2 free throws.

On the other end, Huffmyer went to the bucket through some contact but was whistled for traveling.

Another foul and senior Jagger Weaver hit 1 of 2 from the line for the final score.

On the second missed shot, OCS senior Bryson Lynch was called for traveling while grabbing the rebound. That gave the Bronchos the ball with 17 seconds left and sealed the win.

Brady scored a game-high 16 points, including eight points in the first half.

Sophomore Rhett Brobston hit four 3-pointers for 12 points.

“(Brobston has) such a confident shooting stroke and his teammates believe in him maybe even more than he believes in himself,” Holliday said.

The win earns Bethany its second straight trip to state.

“Just super proud of them and I feel very blessed to be their coach!”

Huffmyer and Struckel each scored 15 points to lead the Saints.

UP NEXT

Bethany (25-6) opens the 4A state tournament against top-ranked Douglass Tuesday (March 10) at OG&E Coliseum in Oklahoma City.

The Trojans (17-6) won the 4A Area II title over seventh-ranked Blanchard, 40-34, Friday to earn a state berth.

Photographs courtesy of Kristie Escoe of Life in Action Photography.

	1	2	3	4	F
Oklahoma Christian School (16-10)	12	12	14	15	53
Bethany (25-6)	21	18	12	10	61