Oklahoma Centennial Advances past Hugo

The Bison managed to stay in front of the Buffaloes despite Hugo's late-game efforts.

Thursday, July 28th 2011, 6:10 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Mar 10, 2011 10:7 PM CDT

Gerald Goodridge
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Late-game miscues allowed the Oklahoma Centennial Bison to hold off the Hugo Buffaloes 35-30 in the first round of the Class 3A Boy’s State Playoffs.

The Buffaloes trailed for most of the game, but strung together a 5-2 run in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter to take a 28-27 lead with just 4:27 left to play.

However, that’s when things came apart for Hugo.

The Buffaloes came up empty on five consecutive possessions, while Oklahoma Centennial managed four points – three coming from senior Craig Hackney – to retake the lead 31-28.

Hugo senior Patrick Smith would connect on a layup to slice the deficit back to one point, but Bison senior Tyrone Jones made his mark in the game’s closing 30 seconds.

Oklahoma Centennial passed its way out of pressure defense from the Buffaloes and Jones was wide open for a dunk that brought the crowd to its feet and the lead back to three points.

Hugo senior Drake Noah attempted a short jumper, but Jones blocked the shot, his third of the game, with just 18 seconds left on the clock. Teammate Desean Carolina ran for the outlet pass and his layup put the game out of reach.

Jones finished with a game-high 11 points, with Carolina adding 10 and Hackney contributing seven.

Smith set the mark for the Buffaloes with nine points, while senior Josh Brown notched seven points.

The Bison will now take on the Washington Warriors at 8 p.m. Friday, who are coming off of an upset of No. 2 Verdigris.