A look back at Sallisaw boys’ season
The Sallisaw Black Diamonds saw their basketball season come to an end Friday afternoon in the Class 4A Regional Tournament, but new coach Zac Rogers believes the program is heading in the right direction, thanks to this year’s seniors.
The Sallisaw Black Diamonds saw their basketball season come to an end Friday afternoon in the Class 4A Regional Tournament, but new coach Zac Rogers believes the program is heading in the right direction, thanks to this year’s seniors.
“Mainly, we set the foundation from how our seniors led this group with their effort, how hard they played, how they showed up to practice every day and were ready to get better,” Rogers said. “That’s going to be a good building block just for how our younger guys see how they need to approach each season. Any time you have a group of seniors like we had this year, like Cooper Jackson, Cooper Carter and Cooper Cox, who were our captains, you feel pretty good about what the younger guys are learning just by their examples.”
The future is what excites Rogers the most.
“We’re extremely excited for the future,” he said. “We have Brodi Nickell, Tae-Muskrat Flynn and Jackson Harris back. With our eighth-graders, we feel like we will have a good class coming in. Our eighth-graders were 22-0 this year. I really have high expectations for them to have an impact early in their careers. We have a good freshmen class this year. I’m really excited with the leadership we’re going to get out of Tae, Nickell and Jackson next year. We have high expectations for the future and where this program is going. Our younger guys in the program are really good and really extremely hard workers. I’m really excited with all the underclassmen to pair them with. These guys are the type of guys we want to have lead us to the program that we want to have. They’re extremely high-character guys who work really hard.”
For Rogers, this was his first-ever high school coaching job, and he loved every minute of it.
“It was great,” he said. “It was a lot different role than coming from the collegiate level but also switching from an assistant coach to a head coach was a very different role. It was awesome getting to be with these guys. It’s been an outstanding experience. The competition was really good. The other coaches in the league (NOAA Conference) are doing a great job with their teams. There were a few little nuance rule changes this year that made it difficult. We lost at Claremore by two points, and there was a little rule change that I didn’t know going into the game. I kind of learned them on the fly. This was a great experience, and I’ve really enjoyed (coaching) at the high school level.”
Next week, I’ll look back at the Sallisaw Lady Diamonds’ season.
THEN THERE WERE FOUR
We are down to four teams, the Muldrow squads and the Roland teams.
The Bulldogs in Class 4A and the Lady Rangers and the Runnin’ Rangers in Class 3A are needing a win Friday night to send them to state. If any or all of them lose, they can come back Saturday night to win their respective area tournament consolation title and earn a trip to state.
In the case of the Lady Bulldogs, they must win out Thursday through Saturday at the Class 4A Area Tournament in Okmulgee to make state.
Check out next Wednesday’s edition for all the coverage from the Class 3A Area Tournament for Roland in Seminole and the Class 4A Area Tournament for Muldrow in Okmulgee.
GANS DONKEY BASKETBALL GAME SLATED MARCH 13
The 2025 Gans Donkey Basketball Game between the Gans Senior Class of 2025 and the Cherokee Nation will take place March 13 at Bryant “Big Country” Reeves Fieldhouse.
The cost is $8 for those who purchase tickets prior to the event, or $10 at the door the night of the event.
COLLEGE SIGNINGS
Since we’re winding down the season, just a reminder to you coaches if you are going to have any players signing letters of intent to play college basketball, give me at least a 24-hour, but preferably a 48-hour, notice so that I can plan on trying to be there for the big moment for Your TIMES.
WEEK 11 INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS
Roland freshman phenom Damonte Owens continued his scoring prowess as he scored a game-high 31 points in Roland’s 68-36 rout of Kiefer in the Class 3A Regional Tournament finals. In the regional championship semifinals, he scored 26 points in a 57-32 victory over Hugo.
Sallisaw’s Kayli Macon scored a game-high 20 points in the Lady Diamonds’ Class 4A Regional Tournament consolation semifinal 67-48 victory over Stilwell.
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David Seeley is sports editor for Your TIMES. He can be reached by calling (918) 775-4433, Ext. 139 or by emailing him at davids@cookson.news.
