Talihina, Spiro advance to finals

By CRAIG HALL
FORT SMITH—Heavener lost more than a game in its semifinal contest with Talihina while for Poteau and Spiro, it was same song, second verse.

Top-seeded Talihina advanced to the finals with a 58-38 win over Heavener while second-seeded Spiro rallied late for the second time this season against the Pirates in a 45-43 victory.

Talihina and Spiro, two of the most dominant programs in the history of the tournament, will now meet in the finals Saturday at approximately 8:30 p.m., also in the Stubblefield Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith.

Heavener and Poteau will meet in the third-place game Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

In the first game, Heavener played an almost perfect first quarter in the rematch of last year’s county finals.

The Wolves led 13-4 after one quarter, but one key play changed everything. Heavener’s Brandon Kirkland and Talihina’s Taggart Lockhart collided chasing a loose ball.

At first, it appeared Lockhart might have gotten the worse of the collision but Kirkland crossed halfcourt and bent over.

The officials stopped play and Kirkland was immediately taken off the court and left to get examined at a hospital with what is believed to be a broken collarbone.

As soon as Kirkland was removed, the momentum quickly switched to Talihina. Marcus Sullivan got a slam and the dormant Tigers offense quickly exploded.

The Tigers outscored Heavener 28-6 in the second quarter and take any drama out of the game. Jordan Eagleroad also threw down a dunk in the dominant quarter.

Talihina cruised in the second half as Heavener could not get anything started and soon sent in the substitutes. The Tigers also suffered a blow as Jace Chancellor injured an ankle in the second half.

Chris Capsey led the Tigers with 15 points while Lockhart had 14. Koda Glover paced Heavener with nine points.

While the first game lacked drama, the second certainly didn’t.

Poteau built a 12-point lead twice in the third quarter before Spiro rallied, just like the Bulldogs did in the season-opening 54-51 win.

Shane Thompson got the Bulldogs going by scoring four straight to cut the lead to eight.

Poteau’s Britt Brown countered with a layup and free throw with nine seconds left in the third quarter to build the lead back to 11 going into the final quarter.

Spiro started the third quarter by scoring six points to whittle the lead to 37-32. After Brown stopped the bleeding with two free throws, Thompson answered with two free throws.

Poteau’s Blake Roley hit a short jumper with 2:58 left, but it would be the Pirates’ last field goal.

Thompson and Elliott Hawkins each had a basket for the Bulldogs to cut the lead to 41-38. Poteau missed three straight free throws and Spiro could not do anything until Hawkins made another basket with 1:26 left to cut the lead to 41-40.

The Pirates’ Josh Ross was fouled and hit two free throws with 1:13 left to up the lead to 43-40.

Hawkins put up a shot for Spiro, missed, got his own rebound and was fouled. He hit both free throws with 40 seconds left to again cut the lead to one. On the ensuing possession, Poteau was called for an illegal screen, giving Spiro the ball again.

Alonzo Releford hit a short basket to give Spiro the lead, 44-43, the Bulldogs’ first lead since early in the game. The Pirates missed two shots before Releford grabbed the rebound and was fouled.

He missed the first and made the second to increase the lead to 45-43. Again, Poteau had a chance but a last-second basket missed, sending the Spiro players and faithful into a celebration.

Thompson was Spiro’s leading scorer with 11. Brown led all scorers with 21 points.