Indians Surge Late to Beat Tigers

El Reno and Coweta were shot-for-shot throughout the game, but the Indians managed to edge passed the Tigers for a nine-point win.

Thursday, July 28th 2011, 6:03 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Jan 21, 2011 7:36 PM CDT

Stephany Speck
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

SHAWNEE, Oklahoma -- The Coweta Tigers and the El Reno Indians gave the crowd quite a show Friday night, throwing their bodies against each other, on the floor and into the benches to save a loose ball. Ultimately though, the Indians pulled away by a handful of points and held the margin to win the game 67-58.

The fourth quarter provided enough highlights to please any coach, but neither team just wanted to play pretty.

They wanted the win.

They were neck-and-neck, both teams playing with full intensity, sneaking passes behind defenders, boxing out hard for rebounds and creating space for perimeter shooting. The Indians began pulling away late in the final quarter, Raymond Little leading the way. The junior guard slashed past the defense and drawing fouls.

He dished out passes to Devante Moore, who helped create a 10-point deficit from which the Tigers couldn’t recover. Moore led El Reno with 22 points, teammate Rashaad Copeland finished with 13 points, Conner Haydon contributed 11 and Little finished with seven.

Coweta's Zach Norris led all scorers with 24 points, while Ty Gunter ended with 12.