Buffaloes light up the house at Homecoming

senior night | McAlester Buffaloes are scheduled to host Class 5A rival the Ada Cougars, at Bob Brumley Gym beginning at 6 p.m.

By JAYSON KNIGHT

There was a lot of black and gold at Bob Brumley Gymnasium Saturday when the Hugo Buffaloes came to play the McAlester Buffaloes. It was homecoming for the McAlester Buffs and Lady Buffs and they celebrated it with a pair of wins against two teams packed with talent. The guys won by eight and the girls won by 14.

Ashton Sims scored the first two points for McAlester and for the game. He finished a possession created by a combined defensive effort on the parts of McAlester’s Prevon Erving and Clifvonte Smitherman. Sims put up a jumpshot off the glass and then Buffalo David DeGiacomo hit his first of a half dozen threes he would rain in the game.

Those scores put Mac up 7-0 before Patrick Smith hit first for Hugo. Sims answered the two-point bucket with a three. McAlester led a well-balanced passing attack in the first quarter with all players touching the ball on some plays. The Buffs worked the ball around and created openings for DeGiacomo or Sims to bust threes or Smitherman to knock down jumpers from the baseline.

Hugo’s Carlos Henderson did damage on the inside. He used his size and agility well enough to score in packed-paint situations and crush blocks out of would-be offenders’ hands.

Erving began his scoring with a three in the second quarter.

However, Hugo’s Smith and Javon Jones proved to be great compliments of speed to Henderson’s power. Smith worked the ball in down low with handles and shot the ball well with quick releases.

Despite an ooh!-worthy, left-handed hook shot over a defender and off the glass by Jacob Engleman, Hugo rallied late and went into the half with the momentum and their first lead of the game after a put-back by the domineering Henderson. His lay-up sent Hugo into the locker room with a lead to build on, 28-27.

The Hugo Buffaloes seemed as if they would do just that when Henderson put one in down low. After hitting just two treys in the first half, DeGiacomo doubled that in the second half with four more. His first of the third quarter knotted the game up at 30.

Erving used a dependable fade away jumper to create space for jump shots. The third quarter was a back-and-forth struggle that ended tied at 42 when Hugo’s Jones hit with a falling-down jump shot.

Sims showed good sense of awareness with steals and did well in the fourth quarter drawing fouls. He gave McAlester their final lead of the game by going two-for-two from the line with four minutes left.

Prevon Erving found DeGiacomo open just inside the free throw line. Erving moved well through the defense all night, but scored best in the fourth quarter. As McAlester out-Buffaloed Hugo, Erving drove into the heart of the Hugo defense and got a shot around Henderson by effectively using the left hand.

McAlester reached its biggest lead of the game when Erving scored on a fast-break to give the McAlester Buffs a nine-point lead with a little over 30 seconds left in the game. McAlester’s Buffaloes won 63-55 after outscoring Hugo by eight points in the last quarter.

McAlester’s head coach, Jerry McCormick spoke on what gave the Buffs the advantage against the Hugo Buffaloes. “We did a better job in the fourth quarter of handling the ball. We were also able to limit them to one shot per possession. Both of those were major keys for us ,” said Coach McCormick.

The girls’ game was played second this go-around due to the homecoming festivities. McAlester’s ladies forced the first turnover of the game, but failed to capitalize. Ashlynn Stafford scored the first four points of the game for Hugo. Mac’s Head Coach Crystal Robinson quickly called a timeout, just two minutes into the game.

Whatever she said in the huddle, Whitney Anderson must have heard her. She came in clearing the boards and with tenacity to pull rebounds down on both ends of the court and score the first points for McAlester’s ladies with a put-back. Kirsty Cook tied it at four with a deep jumper, assisted by Anderson.

Leslie Huff showed the homecoming crowd her range with the first three of the game. Anderson also hit from the baseline in the first quarter. Shay Griffin drew a foul driving to the basket with a little over two minutes left in the game and sunk them both to give Mac a three point-lead before Jami Steidley found Cook open for three.

McAlester’s LaShanda Green showed the most impressive defense against Stafford who had a real knack for attacking the basket. Stafford earned a fast break in the first quarter and Green caught up to her. She swatted the ball cleanly out of Stafford’s hands. Shay Griffin picked off a pass to end the first quarter, 14-10- McAlester.

McAlester played well against Stafford defensively, but McAlester’s fundamentally disruptive defense wasn’t enough to contain Stafford’s scoring instinct. McAlester’s ladies built a 29-20 lead by the end of the second quarter thanks to the range of Cook. Griffin showed presence under the basket to let over-eager defenders blow by before sinking easy lay ups.

Stafford came back from halftime with a three-pointer for the first second-half score. Seniors Griffin and Anderson hooked up for a jump shot.

Hugo had success when they got the ball to Heather Bunn. She hit with threes and also stole her own teammates’ possession away to score with a jump shot at one point. Wykeena King had a short jumper as the away-team Lady Buffaloes managed to catch up to the McAlester ladies towards the end of the third quarter at 33. Shanice Holman had a steal that led to a fast break lay up to tie the game at 33.

They weren’t able to score again in the quarter after doing so though as McAlester’s girls shut out the Hugo ladies for more than the last two-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter. McAlester’s Lady Buffs started the fourth quarter with a 38-33 lead.

Most impressively about Stafford’s aggressive nature towards the ball and the basket was that she didn’t receive her first foul until almost 26 minutes of game time had ticked away. The clock read 6:10 in the fourth when she finally fouled someone.

Green had an impressive performance in all phases throughout the game. In the fourth, she had another come-from-behind block to stifle a Hugo possession and she diced up a Hugo lane while evading a swipe by Stafford.

A Lady Buffalo each fouled out within a minute of each other in the fourth quarter, McAlester’s Huff and Hugo’s King..

In the final minutes of the game, Green dribbled fluidly to the top of the key before forcing the ball into Anderson, who dropped in a lay up to give Mac a 53-44 lead with 2:22 left in the game.

Good hands-up defense by Green and Griffin got them called for questionable fouls down the stretch. Griffin let it reign with a three in the fourth as well as some rocketed passes to the inside from the perimeter. McAlester’s ladies won 62-48.

“I’m glad we’re winning these kinds of games. We’re going to have to fight like this in the playoffs,” McAlester’s Head Coach Robinson said after the game.

“As far as what gave us the edge, we got the stops we needed when we needed them and we hit well from the field,” the coach continued.

Senior Leslie Huff is excited about the rivalry game against Ada who they play next. Both Buffs teams play their next game back at Brumley Tuesday at 6:30 p.m against the Cougars. The rangy senior spoke on their upcoming game against Ada, “We’re undefeated at home and within our conference. It’s going to be a good one.”

Contact Jayson Knight at jknight@mcalesternews.com

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