January 3, 2020 Issue, Page 9 of 10

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Page 9 The Elk City News, Elk City, Oklahoma Friday, January 3, 2020 Lady Bobcats beat Canute in Class A battle By Jeff Cali home against Hobart. its dominance in Class A. The Ada News Hydro-Eakly ledjust 25-21 at halftime and Canute pulled The Lady Bobcats put up an incredible 65 shots com- within 28-26 on a free throw by Haley Schreck at the 5:54 pared to 31 for Canute thanks in part to 18 offensive re- ADA - Hydro-Eakly sent a clear message to the rest of mark of the third period. bounds. The Hydro-Eakly defense also forced a whopping Class A last week at the 2019 Bertha Frank Teague Mid- The Lady Bobcats responded with seven straight points, 36 Trojanette turnovers. America Tournament in Ada that they were the team to including a fast-break layup and a 3-pointer by Kira Berkey Rachel Berry finished 6-of-10 from the field and made beat. that stretched the Hydro-Eakly lead to 35-26 at the halfway 9-of-11 free shots on the way to a game-high 21 points. The Lady Bobcats broke open a close game with a domi- point of the third quarter. She also had five rebounds and five steals. Berkey added nant second half and cruised by Canute 68-38 in the tourna- Canute trailed 45-35 heading into the fourth quarter be- 17 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, Five other Hydro- ment’s fifth-place game. fore the bottom really fell Eakly players scored at least four points. Top-ranked Hydro-Eakly improved to 10-1 on the year out. Kylee Smith led Canute with 11 points and seven re- and completed a season sweep of No. 2 Canute, which After Madison Faylor hit a 3-pointer at the 5:21 mark bounds, both team highs, off the bench. She hit 5-of-7 field dropped to 12-3. The Lady Bobcats defeated Canute 67-57 to get the Trojanettes within 51-38, Canute would never goals and also had three steals. Faylor ended up with eight on Nov. 22. score again. Hydro-Eakly ended the game with an impres- points, six rebounds and three steals. Canute’s boys and girls teams return to action Tuesday at sive 17-0 volley to run away with the figure and establish Canute’s boys basketball team is young but battle tested By Don Munsch 11-0, on Dec. 19. Canute returns three “I think it’s good that we’re playing all Players to watch as the season moves into Editor starters coming back from a 21-9 area tour- these really, really good teams first because January are Colt Randall, Kelln Henderson nament team last year. A few players off we're going to be battled tested when it and Keenan Smith, with each of those play- Canute High School’s boys basketball the bench from last year return as well. counts in February,” he said. ers averaging 12 to 14 points a game. An- team enters the new year having survived “We got a bunch of young kids — some The teams in Canute’s conference are other key player is Colby Maddox, a point atest. freshmen are helping us right now,” Steffes Leedey, Hammon, Cheyenne, Merritt, guard who makes the team go, Steffes said. The Trojans played “the most brutal said. “We have no seniors who start but we Arapaho, Sentinel and Sweetwater. “We are pretty young, but we do have schedule you could play,’ CHS varsity do have three seniors on the team. We’re “We're playing playing some tough op- some experience because a bunch of them coach Brock Steffes said. real young, athletic and solid. We find ways ponents right here,” he said. played in the area tournament last year,” he “We played seven top 10 teams out of to get beat by ranked teams in the fourth Steffes said his team going forward just said. “We lost a couple of couple off that our 11 [games], and we had a chance to win quarter now, but we’re in every one that needs to put together four quarters, as the team who were really good seniors. [This about every one of them — we had the lead we’ve been in.” ‘Trojans have been solid through three quar- team] is an exciting bunch; they’re a real in the fourth quarter,” he said. The team had been in the top 20 in the ters in some games. He thinks the team can good bunch. Very coachable and good The Trojans are 6-6 after a 69-36 loss to early going but lost a string of games and fix its problem areas, attributing shortcom- kids.” Class B’s top-ranked team in Duke, now dropped out. ings to inexperience. OSU football: Cowboys add West Virginia grad transfer Josh Sills By Scott Wright lection a year ago, but suffered a season- gibility remaining, which suggests he has him immediate eligibility because of the The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City ending ankle injury two games into the been granted a sixth year of eligibility be- coaching staff overhaul at Arkansas. Head 2019 season. He entered the transfer por- cause of his injury. coach Chad Morris and his staff were not STILLWATER- For the second time in tal in mid-December and announced on Because of rules regarding graduate retained. two days, the NCAA transfer portal has Twitter his decision to transfer to OSU on transfers - even within the Big 12 - Sills Though not all situations are the same, sent a player Oklahoma State’s way. Tuesday morning. will be immediately eligible at OSU. OSU defensive lineman Israel Antwine On Tuesday, a day after landing Arkan- “Couldn’t be any more excited to com- He’s a likely possibility to fill the left was granted a waiver last year after trans- sas transfer defensive lineman Collin Clay, plete my Masters in Agriculture while guard spot vacated by four-year starter ferring from Colorado amid a coaching OSU picked up West Virginia graduate playing my last two years in Stillwater for Marcus Keyes. staff change. transfer Josh Sills, a 6-foot-6, 326-pound Coach (Mike Gundy),” Sills wrote. Clay, who is transferring after playing Regardless, both Sills and Clay are ex- offensive guard. Sills, who was a redshirt junior this sea- as a true freshman at Arkansas, could be pected to be in Stillwater for the start of Sills was a second-team All-Big 12 se- son, indicates that he has two years of eli- a candidate for an NCAA waiver to allow the spring semester on Wednesday. Thunder chairman: David Stern shaped NBA team in OKC By Berry Tramel move from New Orleans to OKC. the interest of furthering the business, fur- not only trailing football and baseball in The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City All that followed -- Paul, Westbrook, thering the game and trying to be success- the American consciousness, but college Kevin Durant, Steven Adams, Paul ful.” basketball as well. The point man for Oklahoma City’s George, Carmelo Anthony, Shai Gilgeous- This is not to discount the efforts of “He made the league,” Bennett said. wild NBA adventure is neither Russell Alexander, the NBA Finals, a thousand Oklahoma City. Both political and busi- “He built the league. He built the league Westbrook nor Chris Paul. Westbrook, the thrills, great victories, gut-punch defeats ness leaders aligned to save the home- through his sheer will and skill and bril- face of the Thunder franchise, and Paul, -- stems from Stern’s belief in Oklahoma less Hornets, and the fans responded. The liance and force. Indescribable worker. the original (and returned) OKC star, have City. same cooperation occurred after Bennett Demanding. Really pushing. And always been bedrock figures in this basketball od- When Stern told NBA owners that Okla- and his partners bought the Sonics in sum- by example. Always in the room. We don’t yssey. homa could save the Hornets during the mer 2006. have the NBA we love and enjoy and its But David Stern dished the biggest as- Hurricane Katrina tragedy and later told “Tt worked because yes, we came position for the future that we’re all so ex- sist of them all. He endorsed our frontier them OKC was worthy of the relocat- through and the city was incredible,” Ben- cited about today, without David Stern.” city when some basketball folks back East ed Seattle SuperSonics, it carried more nett said. “And so many really contributed 2. Stern was a believer in Oklahoma thought you had to arrive by stagecoach. weight than anything Oklahomans could to make all that happen. But it was his City, from his frequent visits (much more Stern, the NBA’s commissioner from have tried to sell. (Stern’s) gameplan, and it worked. than Silver) to his whimsical descrip- 1984-2014, died Wednesday at age 77. “The other owners didn’t know Okla- “What I’ve been trying to think about, tions of the OKC story (he loved to say Oklahoma City has lost a friend. And so homa, and they had no experience with how he operated as commissioner, I’m so “Mayor Mick,” about Mick Cornett) to his has Thunder chairman Clay Bennett. Oklahoma City,” Bennett said. “Could we impressed with how smart the guy was, endorsement of the city for two franchise “T’ve been very saddened ever since he really do what needed to be done in terms how current he was on every aspect of relocations. became ill” a couple of weeks ago, said of the financial underwriting, being a ma- every matter. Knew the issues, knew the “That Hornets story is the damndest Bennett, the Thunder chairman who with jor-league city and all that goes with that? people, knew the current status of things. story of all time,” Bennett said of the OU civic leaders and Stern brought the NBA “When David decided to temporarily Had a good sense of where things needed broom closet. “He had already checked to Oklahoma City in 2005, with the re- relocate the Hornets here, and I think he to move and how things needed to devel- out the schedule, the building. He knew had a sense we could do an acceptable job op. Just an extraordinarily gifted execu- exactly what he was doing. That experi- located Hornets. “David’s been a person who’s had enormous impact on me, my of hosting for that period of time, it was tive and leader. Inspirational. I learned so ence, those are things that just don’t hap- life, my career, my development. the experience that developed the market, much from him.” pen, yet here was David on one hand, per- “Certainly his role as commissioner as it that exposed the market, that enabled us to Stern was not always popular around the fectly conducting what needed to happen relates to the NBA in Oklahoma City, he build on that experience and that achieve- league. Certainly he stood up to the play- for the league, and we’re on the other side may very well be, he IS, the central figure ment to push on.” ers association moreso than does current of that coin, trying to understand what that in the success.” Bennett met Stern while serving on the commissioner Adam Silver. Stern could means and trying to execute and do these Stern famously called Bennett on a Sep- San Antonio Spurs board of directors in be condescending and autocratic. But two things. Together, we made it work.” tember Saturday in 2005 -- Bennett was the 1990s. things. Certainly Oklahoma City had positioned at the OU-TCU football game and stepped “Our relationship always clicked,” Ben- 1. Stern ranks with Pete Rozelle (NFL) itself for the opportunity that came. But it into a storage closet on the suite level high nett said. “Now, we fought like hell and as the greatest commissioners in American also had a friend in high places. Rest easy, above Owen Field -- and set the process we disagreed like hell, and we’ve had our sports history. Stern ushered the NBA onto commissioner. in motion for the Hornets to temporarily tough, tough moments. But it was all in a bright stage, after almost four decades of OU football: Top 2021 quarterback recruit Brock Vandagriff de- commits from Sooners By Ryan Aber is going to be for me to attend college for now, without a quarterback in ei- pected to make his decision public The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City so far away from home,” Vandagriff ther the 2020 or 2021 classes. soon. posted, in part, on Twitter. Sooners coach Lincoln Riley said Chandler Morris was a longtime Ar- Brock Vandagriff, the top quarter- Vandagriff is the No. 4 overall play- Sunday that OU would add a quarter- kansas commitment but withdrew that back prospect in the 2021 class, de- er in the class according to Rivals. back to the roster by next season. decision when his father was fired as committed from OU on Wednesday. He had been committed to the Soon- Chandler Morris, a 2020 three-star the Razorbacks’ head coach. “These last couple months have ers since June. prospect and some of Auburn offen- brought to my attention how hard it Vandagriff’s decision leaves OU, sive coordinator Chad Morris, is ex-