Muldrow celebrates homecoming with sweep of Sallisaw

Late legendary Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis always said he would rather win ugly than lose pretty. After Friday night’s thrilling homecoming victory for the Muldrow Lady Bulldogs, longtime Muldrow girls coach Jana Armer was feeling the same way.

It took a buzzer-beating shot by senior Claire Tabor with three-tenths of a second left to lift the Lady Bulldogs past NOAA Conference foe and county rival Sallisaw 31-30 to cap off homecoming festivities Friday night at Roger Sharp Activity Center.

The Bulldogs began the night by holding off the Sallisaw Black Diamonds 55-49 to make it a happy homecoming all around.

GIRLS

MULDROW 31, SALLISAW 30

After the Lady Diamonds (3-4 overall, 1-2 in NOAA Conference play) missed a shot in the late seconds that would have given them a three-point lead, the Lady Bulldogs got the jump ball call off the rebound with the possession arrow favoring Muldrow with eight seconds left.

After calling timeout at that point, Muldrow girls coach Jana Armer called timeout once the Lady Bulldogs (5-1, 1-0) got the ball across the midcourt line with about four seconds left. On the inbounds pass, senior Claire Tabor got the ball and drove down the baseline and hit the game-winning jump shot just with three-tenths of a second left for the game-winning basket, and helping her team survive a major homecoming disappointment.

“I knew the ball had to get in, and get to me,” Tabor said about the game-winning play. “I knew I had to go to the ball and score. I saw an open drive, pulled up for a jump shot and knocked it down.”

“I’ll take an ugly win any time over a loss,” Armer said. “It was a good win. We’ve got some adjusting to do. I was proud of my kids for being resilient, and very proud of Claire. She had missed several shots. Boy, did she step up when we needed her.”

Tabor believed she needed to step up for her fallen teammate, fellow senior Kennedi Wight, who injured her left knee just as the first half buzzer sounded. She never returned to the game. She went to a doctor on Monday, but Armer said there was still no word on how long she may be out — or if it was a season-ending injury.

“We all had to work really hard with our best player down,” she said. “Without Kiki, we really had to come together to get it done, and we got it done.”

Despite being happy with pulling a win out of the jaws of defeat, Armer indeed was more concerned about Wight’s condition than anything else.

“The loss of Kiki is much more than whatever the outcome of the game is,” she said. “She’s our senior captain and our leader. Hopefully, she’ll come back quickly, and will be OK. Right now, my main concern is her.”

The Lady Diamonds took a 30-29 lead with 29 seconds left on two free throws by Molly Carver, who had hit a big 3-point basket at the 2:50 mark to get Sallisaw to within a point at 29-28, to give the Lady Diamonds a 30-29 lead.

A 3-point play by Muldrow’s London Hardin with 54 seconds left in the third quarter put the Lady Bulldogs ahead for the first time since halftime at 24-23 going into the final period.

The Lady Diamonds, who trailed 14-13 at halftime, opened the third quarter with a 10-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Carver with 4:15 left in the third quarter, to put Sallisaw ahead 23-14 with 4:15 left in the period, but the Lady Bulldogs scored the final 10 points off the quarter for the 24-23 lead after three periods.

The Lady Bulldogs got off to a fast start as a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer by Wight put Muldrow ahead 5-0 with 7:19 left in the first quarter.

However, the Lady Diamonds went on a 10-0 run, capped by a trey by Hannah Palmer with 4:10 remaining in the period, to put Sallisaw on top 10-5. The Lady Diamonds took an 11-8 lead into the second quarter.

Both teams combined for a 1:13 scoring drought before Muldrow homecoming queen Cailey Grinstead scored the first points of the second period, which sparked a 6-2 quarter for Muldrow en route to a 14-13 halftime lead.

“We did everything we had to do to win,” first-year Sallisaw coach Eric Carr said. “I expected the game to be that way. I felt like we could defend then, but losing their best kid hurt them in the second half. We had a lot of inexperienced mistakes in that third quarter and the fourth quarter. We made the plays to win, but we just missed them (shots). Then, we gave up a right-hand drive on the last play which we teach and preach all the time. Those are little things that we’ll be able to watch on film and learn from. I’m proud of our kids. We’re definitely going (in) the right direction. We’re going to be scary when it comes February. I think we’ll be able to compete with a lot of teams. We’re going to surprise some people.”

For the game, Wight still led Muldrow on the night, despite not returning in the second half, with six points, all scored in the first quarter. Grinstead and Hardin each had five points, followed by Tabor and Katelynn Moore with four points each, Makynlee Morton with three points, Chloee Clark with two points and Kennady Moore and Kayla Ellinberg with a free throw apiece.

In defeat, Carver scored a game-high 14 points to lead Sallisaw, followed by Abby Kate Qualls with seven points, Palmer with six points and Kayli Macon with three points.

BOYS

MULDROW 55, SALLISAW 49

Trailing 24-22 at halftime, the Bulldogs (3-3 overall, 1-0 in NOAA Conference play) opened the third quarter with a 19-4 run, capped by a pair of Teaguen Collins free throws with 2:31 left in the third quarter to give Muldrow its largest lead of the night at 41-28. A buzzer-beating basket by Collins gave Muldrow a 43-35 lead going into the fourth quarter.

However, the ’Dogs almost saw the lead evaporate as the Black Diamonds (4-3, 1-2) opened the final period with a 9-2 run, capped by a free throw by Cooper Cox with 4:58 left to play, to cut the Sallisaw deficit to 45-44. However, the Black Diamonds were not able to take the lead down the stretch as the Bulldogs finished the game on a 10-5 run to seal the deal.

“We faced a little bit of adversity, but we were able to fix things — and not turn the ball over,” Muldrow boys coach Terry Collins said. “Hopefully, we can build on this so that down the line we can be confident in it.”

After Muldrow’s Kashan Bukhari hit the first basket of the game for a 2-0 lead, the Black Diamonds ended the first quarter on a 14-8 run, capped by Cooper Jackson’s 3-point basket with six-tenths of a second remaining, for a 14-10 lead going into the second period.

A 3-pointer by Sallisaw’s Max Stump gave the Black Diamonds their biggest lead of the night at 17-10 with 7:32 left before halftime.

A basket by Collins tied the game at 20-all with 2:34 remaining in the first half, but Sallisaw ended the first half by scoring four of the final six points to take a 2422 lead into the locker rooms at the break. Muldrow’s Trenton Irvan hit a basket with 18 seconds left for the final points of the first half. It looked as if Irvan’s shot was a 3-pointer, but it was later ruled a two-pointer.

A couple of things hurt the Black Diamonds, especially in the second half.

“(Hitting) free throws killed us, and in the third quarter we came out flat,” Sallisaw boys coach Chadd Gehrke said. “They outhustled us. Our game plan in the second half was to take away (Parker) Sevenstar, then No. 24 (Bukhari) started hitting 3s. We can’t make excuses. We got outhustled.”

For the game, Muldrow put a trio of players into double figures, led by Collins and Sevenstar each with 16 points, followed by Bukhari with 13 points. Jesse Kilinc scored four points, while Irvan, Drew Prewett and Kenoy Releford scored two points apiece.

In defeat, Jackson scored a game-high 21 points to lead Sallisaw, followed by Stump with 15 points, Cox with six points, Wes Rodriguez with four points, Brodi Nickell with two points and Cooper Carter with a free throw.