JASON EPP
• Leader & Times
TURPIN, Okla.— A huge offensive rebounding advantage and a couple of second half runs proved to be too much to overcome as the Turpin Cardinals fell to the Texhoma Red Devils 59-48 in the District 8 Championship game.
It was a back-and-forth contest that saw three ties and eight lead changes throughout the game. Turpin gained the early advantage, going up 16-9 late in the first quarter, but Texhoma scored eight straight to end the quarter up 17-16.
Baskets by Carson Peters and Elijah Navarro put Turpin back in the lead, 20-17 early in the second. The Red Devils regained the lead, 24-20 with two minutes left before half. Turpin answered again with a 9-0 to end the half capped by Jhett Huffman’s buzzer-beating three and put the Cardinals up 29-24 at the break.
Texhoma came out of the halftime locker room on fire, hitting a pair of threes, a steal and dunk, and a traditional three-point play to go up 35-31 midway through the third quarter and led 44-37 heading into the fourth.
Turpin was able to cut the lead back to four with a minute and a half into the fourth, but a 9-0 run by the Red Devils sealed the Cardinals’ fate.
“I thought we played really hard, but the difference in the game came down to offensive rebounding,” Cardinals head coach Tyler Karr said. “They did a really good job handling our press and they’re a great offensive rebounding team. They had at least 20. For your opponent to have that many and still be in the game. We didn’t shoot good at the free throw line and key turnovers hurt. I thought our half-court defense was really good. They played great interior defense, and it affected our offensive game.”
Beyond the Red Devils’ offensive rebounding dominance, another killer for the Cardinals, 4 of 13 shooting at the free throw line compared to 12 of 24 for Texhoma.
Jhett Huffman led the Cardinals with 17, including three treys; Carson Peters added 14, Riley Fowler 8, and Elijah Navarro 6.
Turpin (17-4) will take on Cheyenne-Reydon, Thursday at 2:30 in a must-win situation. A win will send them to Canute on Friday to take on Canute or The Academy at 2:30.
“One game at a time, can’t overlook anyone,” Karr said. “There’s a chance we might meet up with these guys again.”
