MIDWEST CITY — For the second time in a week, Norman High had its shot to exact revenge against a top-10 opponent. But much like last week’s game against Del City, the Tigers weren’t able to close the deal on the upset against sixth-ranked Midwest City, falling 47-44.
Unlike the defeat in Del City, when NHS lost a 13-point second-half edge, the Tigers played from behind all night against the Bombers.
They were outscored 18-11 in the first quarter and were never able to completely make up the deficit, though they cut it to one possession late in the game.
When Daniel Harper’s buzzer-beating 3-point attempt fell short of the rim, the Bombers had their victory.
The game started off sloppy with a bungled opening tip and continued that way throughout the first half. After the first quarter alone, the normally ball-secure Tigers had 10 turnovers, while the Bombers gave it away eight times. The trend continued in the second, and the Tigers entered halftime with a stunning 17 giveaways.
“Our guys didn’t come out ready to play,” coach Jeff McCullough said. “We weren’t ready to attack their athletes on offense, and we didn’t clean that up until the second half.”
While both teams struggled to hold onto the ball, they also traded scoring runs in the first half. Capitalizing on a spurt of offensive fouls against NHS, the Bombers went on a 13-4 run to take control of the game midway through the first quarter and responded to a 7-2 run by NHS in the second quarter by pushing their lead back to seven points by the half.
In the second half, both teams picked up their game, and stingy defense took over. NHS managed just nine points in the quarter and missed several layups while Midwest City stretched its lead to 40-31.
The Tigers stepped it up on defense in the fourth, and it led to a 9-2 run that pulled them within a bucket with just under 5 minutes to play. But without Rico Hogan, who aggravated an already-strained Achilles tendon early in the fourth quarter, the Tigers were unable to complete the comeback.
“Going into playoffs, this game really means nothing, so it wasn’t worth the risk [of playing Hogan],” McCullough said. “We were forced to play with a different lineup than we normally do, and it’s tough to execute when you have a different group out on the floor.”
But even without Hogan, the Tigers had a shot. Sophomore John Michael Benardello hit two free throws to close the gap to two, and Midwest City missed three free throws down the stretch to set up Harper’s attempt at the tie.
The Tigers had a trio of players chip in nine points, with Harper, Hogan and George Kittle all reaching that mark.
Kittle added seven rebounds and Connor Madole added eight points and seven boards for the Tigers, who face another top-five team when they play host to second-ranked Edmond Memorial on Friday.
Corbin Hosler 366-3528 chosler@normantranscript.com
