Bears put the scare into the Jays in overtime

The Guthrie boys basketball program was one shot away from turning heads in the state, Tuesday evening, inside the GHS gymnasium. Instead, they remain perfect in conference play.

Winless Noble gave the 10th ranked Jays everything they wanted and more, but the Jays prevailed with a 53-45 overtime win thanks to the play of senior Kentrell Brothers. Guthrie improves to 4-2 overall and 3-0 in the Suburban Conference.

In the previous four games against Noble, the Jays had won by an averaged margin of 37 points dating back to 2008.

Brothers, who missed the last three games in the Ardmore Festival, returned to the Jays and posted 27 points on 72% shooting to go along with 13 rebounds for the double-double. The rest of the Jays squad managed just 26 points.

Brothers was named the Farmers and Merchants Bank Player of the Game. In three games this season, the senior play maker is averaging 22 points a game.

With the game tied at 40-all, Noble’s Gage Anderson hit a shot, was fouled, and hit his free throw to give the Bears a 43-40 lead with 1:48 to play in regulation. However, Brothers, who sat out the first 8:00 of the game, came to the rescue with a clutch 3-point shot on the following possession to tie the game.

Guthrie seemed they would have the last opportunity to take the game’s final shot, but a turnover gave the Bears one last chance with 4.6 seconds. After a time-out, the Bears inbounded the ball into the front court where they found Mavrick Martin who found a shot at the top of the key, but was too strong with the shot and the game headed to overtime.

In overtime, Guthrie never once trailed and outscored the Bears 10-0.

Noble’s zone defense gave the Jays fits all night, including behind the 3-point line where the Jays shot just 2-of-15 (13%) and 5-of-15 from the free throw line (33%). At times, the Jays would take 30-45 seconds looking for a shot.

Up next, the Jays will return to the McGuinness Classic for the third straight season and will begin play, Thursday evening, at 7:30 against Norman North.

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	Final
Noble	8	10	14	11	0	45
Guthrie	7	16	13	7	10	53

Guthrie Scoring: Kentrell Brothers 27, Tim Zupo 8, Kai Callins 5, JT McFadden 4, Shron Parker 3, Codee Gross 2, Richard Brothers 2, Jacob Staudt 2