ANADARKO — MacArthur and El Reno certainly have plenty of history, with the schools playing each other in nearly every team sport on a yearly basis.
But thanks to recent postseason clashes, the rivalry has probably been most hotly contested on the basketball court. And when the schools met in both the boys and girls semifinals of the MidFirst Warrior Classic in Anadarko on Friday, the drama only multiplied.
In each game, a team nearly pulled a remarkable comeback, but in each case, the team that had built the massive lead kept it, but barely. First, it was the MacArthur girls, who trailed by 20 after the 3rd quarter. But Otis Gentry’s squad chipped away at the lead in the 4th quarter, reducing the deficit to 4 points before El Reno pulled out the win in the first girls semifinal, 56-49.
Their male counterparts built a 21-point lead in the first half, but a sloppy second half nearly undid all of that work, as a banged-up MacArthur team had to fend off El Reno, 60-53.
Mac boys hold off El Reno rally
MacArthur held an 18-9 lead with just over 2 minutes left in the first quarter, but in a bit of foreshadowing, the Highlanders couldn’t keep the foot on the gas pedal, and El Reno scored the quarter’s final 8 points, capped by Dom Havern’s basket to beat the first-quarter buzzer and cut the lead to 18-17.
But then, a flip switched in the Mac team, and more specifically, in Arzhonte Dallas. Following a Jamel Graves free throw, Dallas scored the next the senior known as “Man Man” scored the next 7 points, twice converting El Reno turnovers into points. This set in motion a 20-0 run from the Highlanders, who led 38-17 at one point. Even when El Reno scored in the 2nd, it was from the free throw line, as the Highlanders didn’t allow a field goal, scoring just six points in the quarter. Meanwhile, Dallas scored 20 of his game-high 25 points in the first half as Mac took a 40-23 lead into halftime. While the 2021-22 MacArthur team might not be as explosive offensively as the team that played for the state championship game a year ago, head coach Marco Gagliardi knows he still has players who can contribute in a variety of ways.
“Offensively, our playmaking isn’t what it was last year, but we have enough guys who, as long as they play their role and do what we ask and don’t step out of that role, we’ve got a lot of complimentary guys who can still make us pretty good,” Gagliardi said. “And at times, they did a really good job.”
One area where Gagliardi identified his team as not on the level of last year’s was “defensive IQ”. This reared its head in the second half, as fouls sent El Reno to the line and offensive rebounds allowed for second-chance points for the Indians, who El Reno went on an 11-0 run of their own to cut the lead to 44-38 late in the 3rd.
Meanwhile, MacArthur scored just 12 points over the next 12 minutes of play. The Indians cut the lead to 55-53 with 32 seconds left. Madden Padilla went to the free throw line, just more than 30 seconds removed from a heated exchange with El Reno’s Havern that got the referees’ attention, but no fouls. With the game on the line, the sophomore Padilla calmly sank both, and missed shots by the Indians allowed the Highlanders to take home …….