TALIHINA — The Roland High School basketball teams brought home some basketball tournament hardware on Saturday night.
The Roland Runnin’ Rangers won the 2024 Choctaw Nation Invitation Tournament with a 73-58 win over the Broken Bow Savages on Saturday night on Chris Gillespie Court at Ray Henson Gymnasium at Talihina High School.
The Runnin’ Rangers reached the title game with a 61-30 win over Howe last Wednesday evening and a 53-49 victory over Pocola on Thursday night.
The Lady Rangers lost the title game 3534 to Pocola on Saturday night after winning 57-21 over Rattan on Wednesday afternoon and beating Howe 51-50 on Thursday afternoon.
Last week started with the Roland squads sweeping a pair of NOAA Conference games from Sallisaw on Dec. 10 at the Ranger Dome as the Lady Rangers opened the night with a 54-43 win over the Lady Diamonds, then the Runnin’ Rangers took care of the Black Diamonds 75-54.
In the boys title game, the Rangers (6-0), who led 29-28 at halftime, outscored the Savages 25-13 in the third quarter to take a 54-41 lead into the final period.
For the game, Damonte Owens, one of two Runnin’ Rangers to be named to the all-tournament team, scored a game-high 25 points to lead Roland, followed by Kade Shook with 18 points, Buck Triplett with 13 points, Raesean Perryman — Roland’s other all-tournament team member — with eight points, Mason Kemp with five points and Landon Fowler with four points.
In the boys championship semifinals, the Runnin’ Rangers led 1711 after a period, only to see Pocola use a 17-9 second quarter to cut its deficit to 26-22 at halftime. However, despite the Indians outscoring the Runnin’ Rangers 2726 in the second half, Roland held on for the win.
For the game, Owens led all scorers with a game-high 26 points to lead Roland, followed by Shook with 15 points, Triplett with four points, Fowler and Kayden Hartt with three points each and Kemp with two points.
In the boys’ openinground game, the Runnin’ Rangers raced out to a 13-3 lead after a quarter and never relinquished their advantage.
For the game, Kayden Hartt scored a gamehigh 12 points and Owens added 10 points to lead Roland, followed by Kemp with nine points, Perryman with seven points, Triplett with six points, Shook with five points, Fowler with four points, Camren Hartt and Nate Criswell with three points each and Josh Bower with two points.
In the girls’ championship game, Pocola’s Lety Parga hit a lay-up with 36 seconds left in the game to give Pocola a 35-34 lead. The Lady Rangers (3-2) had one last chance but could not regain the lead in the waning seconds.
In defeat, Ryanne Nelke, who was one of two Lady Rangers to be named to the all-tournament team, scored a game-high 16 points to lead Roland, followed by Halle Freeman with eight points, Haven Freeman — the other Lady Ranger named to the all-tournament team — with five points, Molly Carver with three points and Lilly Cole with two points.
In the girls’ championship semifinals, the Lady Rangers jumped out to a 19-10 lead after a quarter, but Howe cut its deficit to 26-24 at halftime. A 16-13 third quarter by Roland upped its advantage to 42-37 going into the fourth quarter. Howe outscored Roland 13-9 in the final period but came up short.
For the game, Nelke scored a game-high 21 points to lead Roland, followed by Halle Freeman with 11 points, Haven Freeman with 10 points, Carver with four points, Ari Acevedo with three points and Cole with two points.
In the girls’ openinground game, the Lady Rangers jumped out to a 19-2 lead after a quarter and were never headed.
For the game, Haven Freeman and Nelke each scored a game-high 21 points to lead Roland, followed by Carver with seven points, Acevedo and Halle Freeman with three points each and Payton Wilhite with two points.
In the Roland girls’ win over Sallisaw, trailing 36-34 after three quarters, the Lady Rangers (1-0 in NOAA Conference play) took control of the game in the final period, outscoring the Lady Diamonds in the fourth quarter 20-7 to win going away.
For the game, Haven Freeman led all scorers with a game-high 23 points to lead Roland, followed by Halle Freeman with 14 points, Nelke with 13 points and Carver, playing against her former team, with three points.
In the Roland boys’ victory over Sallisaw, the Runnin’ Rangers, leading 7-5 after a quarter, outscored the Black Diamonds 24-13 in the second quarter to up the Roland’s advantage to 31-18 at halftime as the Runnin’ Rangers started getting hot with their shooting as the period progressed.
The Runnin’ Rangers got their lead to as great as 25 points on two occasions in the final period, the last time at 7045 with 4:59 left in the game on a 3-pointer by Kemp.
For the game, Owens scored a game-high 26 points and Kemp added 22 points to lead Roland, followed by Triplett and Fowler with nine points each, Shook with five points and Perryman with four points.
