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Talihina hopes third time the
charm again
By CRAIG HALL
Talihina’s boys
played in the finals of the LeFlore County Tournament for the third time in
January.
After falling in the finals the previous two years, the Tigers broke through to
win the LCT for the first time since 1974.
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Class 2A
State Championship
1st round (Thursday at Norman High School)
Game 1--Watonga vs. Haworth, 2 p.m.
Game 2--Lincoln Christian vs. Pawnee, 3:30 p.m.
Game 3--Talihina vs. Mangum, 7 p.m.
Game 4--Dale vs. Hulbert, 8:30 p.m.
Semifinals (Friday at State Fair Arena)
Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 9 a.m.
Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 9 p.m.
Championship (Saturday at State Fair Arena)
Semifinal winners (9:15 p.m.) |
Now Talihina is making its third straight trip
to the state tournament after losing in the first round two years ago and making
the finals last year before falling to Pawnee in overtime.
The Tigers have to hope history repeats itself this week and they can bring the
gold ball back home from Oklahoma City.
The first test is a game Thursday at 7 p.m. at Norman against Mangum, which beat
Cordell in an area consolation championship game to advance to state.
“They’re not real big, decent sized,” said Talihina coach Chris Gillespie, who
watched Mangum play Saturday. “No big post players. A little like us. They like
to shoot and penetrate.
“They play straight man-to-man the whole game, in your face defense. It is a
team I think we match up with pretty well.”
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Photo by CRAIG
HALL
Talihina's Marcus Sullivan drives past a Haworth defender in Friday's
area championship win. |
Talihina did get a little break in the brackets
as Watonga and Pawnee are both on the other side and the Tigers will not see
either team until the finals, if they can advance that far.
“All the teams are pretty good,” Gillespie said. “The two teams I would give the
edge to are Pawnee, which won it last year and Watonga. They are really
athletic.”
 The
winner of the Talihina and Mangum game will play the winner of the Dale and
Hulbert game at 9 p.m. on Friday at the State Fair Arena.
Talihina enters Thursday’s game ranked second in the state with a 25-2 record.
Mangum is 22-5 and 13th.
Already this season, in addition to playing in the finals of their own
tournament, Talihina played in the finals of the Chickasha tournament and won
the LCT. The Tigers also won the district, regional and area tournament.
“I think anytime you get in the finals of a tournament it builds pressure,”
Gillespie said. “This is a really good junior class. They have played in some
big games.
“That builds confidence. You learn to handle pressure the more times you are
subject to pressure and better able to handle it.”
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