It was a tale of two halves for the Guthrie boys basketball team in Piedmont on Friday evening. Luckily for the Jays, the better half came in the second half.
The struggled offensively in the first half by scoring just 13 points, but erupted for 44 more in the second half to improve to 2-0 on the young season with a 57-43 win over 7th ranked Piedmont.
The 12th ranked BlueJays improve to 2-0 with both wins coming on the road (El Reno and Piedmont). Piedmont, a Class 4A school, falls to 3-3 on the season with losses to Deer Creek, Carl Albert and Guthrie. However, the Wildcats took down Class 3A’s top ranked team in Victory Christian to win the Medford Tournament last weekend.
Leading the offensive charge for Guthrie, against a steady 2-3 zone defense, was senior Codee Gross, who finished with a game high 26 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter. Gross was named the F&M Bank Player of the Game.
In the third quarter Piedmont built their biggest lead of the night, 25-17, with 4:49 to play in the quarter. From that point, Jays head coach Pete Papahronis went to a half court trap that resulted in Wildcat turnovers and easy transition buckets for th Jays. Guthrie finished the quarter with an 18-8 run to take a 35-33 lead into the fourth quarter.
In the final quarter, Guthrie kept their distance and never once trailed. Piedmont tied the game 38-all, but for the final 5:05 of the game the Jays outscored Piedmont 19-5.
Piedmont was their own enemy from the free throw line by going 8-of-30 (26%). The Wildcats were just 2-of-15 in the first half to keep the Jays within striking distance. Guthrie finished 12-of-24 from the charity line.
Guthrie managed just five field goals in the first half, but finished 21-47 (44%) overall from the field while Piedmont finished 17-40 for 42%.
Up next, for the Jays, will be the home opener when they entertain the Harrah Panthers Tuesday evening. The game can be heard on Triple Play Sports Radio 105.1 FM and on Guthrie Sports Page. The pregame show begins at 6:15.
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