Mannford, the team that eliminated Roland last season, awaits the Rangers in Friday night's championship game at the McAlester Expo Center.
"They beat us out last year, so we're looking forward to hooking up with them again. I don't know about revenge-we just want to take care of business and play the very best we can," said Lewis, who has guided his team to a 21-4 record this season.
Mannford is ranked No. 6 in Class 4A and improved to 22-3 on the season with a come-from-behind victory against Okmulgee in the regional final Saturday night at Fort Gibson. An experienced group of seniors has the Pirates trying for their sixth trip to state in head coach Randy Upshaw's 14-year tenure at the school.
"I just know they've lost three games to real tough opponents. They're highly-ranked and they're really good. Mannford has been to the state tournament several times, so you know they're a well-coached team," said Lewis.
Mannford topped Roland a year ago the night after the Rangers fell to Kingfisher in the area championship game. All-Stater Thor Rooks has graduated, but the Pirates have four seniors in their starting line-up. Ryan Kemp (6-foot-5, center), Mike Wyrick (6-5, forward), Matt Griffin (5-10, guard) and Heath Callaway (6-2, guard) are all averaging at least 10 points a game.
Roland is one of four Sequoyah County basketball teams still alive in the postseason. However, the other three will have to battle through the area losers bracket in order to reach the state tourney. The Sallisaw girls, Central boys and Gore girls must all win three games in a row to advance.
Sallisaw will play Fort Gibson at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the consolation bracket of the Class 4A Area IV playoffs at McAlester. The Lady Diamonds (17-9) are on a roll after securing three-straight wins to advance from the regional losers bracket.
Fort Gibson suffered a 41-35 loss to Cushing in its regional championship game last Saturday night. The Lady Tigers of head coach Jerry D. Walker are 14-9 on the season and co-champions of the Three Rivers Conference along with Chouteau.
The winner of the Sallisaw/Fort Gibson matchup will play either Okmulgee or Stilwell in the next round on Friday.
Central and Gore will be playing in the Class 2A Area IV tournament hosted by Talihina High School.
The Central boys will try to bounce back from a close loss to Depew in last week's regional finals when they match up with Pocola at 3 p.m. Thursday.
Pocola (17-8) won the regional consolation title last Saturday against Cameron. Shane Amos scored 13 of his game-best 21 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Indians to a 62-46 win over Cameron.
Central head coach Michael Wynne feels Thursday's game is a winnable one for the Tigers.
"I think if we play, we beat them. They're a good team and they can play, but I like our chances," said Wynne.
A victory would pit Central against either Haworth or Mounds in the second round on Friday.
The Gore girls will play Haworth in a 1:30 p.m. Thursday losers bracket game at Talihina.
The Lady Pirates enter the area playoffs with a 16-9 record after falling to Depew in Saturday's regional title game at Mounds. Haworth advanced to areas by edging Cameron 45-40 in the consolation final at Poteau. The Gore/Haworth winner will play the winner of Warner and Talihina in the second round on Friday.
