Clockwise L to R: Coach Art McIlroy, Matt Maguire, Corey Shannon, Sean McIlroy, Marvin Ebigwu, Coach Bruce Morton, Brian Benson (between Sean & Marvin), Brock Morton, Kale Larkin (between Matt and Corey) , and Jared Wise with the raised "peace" sign.
It only took six hours for the
TULSA CELTICS to exact revenge on the
Enid Blue Devils who earlier in the day walloped the
Celtics by 21. It was a different story this time as we came out of the gates early and took control, building a 15 point halftime lead. Enid battled back in the 2nd half but never pulled closer than 7 points.
Excellent mid range shooting by post player
Jared Wise, and hot 3 pt shooting by
Brian Benson and
Sean McIlroy keyed the Celtic first half run. Our press worked well as
Marvin Ebigwu, Matt Maguire and Corey Shannon used their quickness to cause multiple Blue Devil turnovers. Kale Larkin entered the game and promptly fired in a 3 pointer.
Brock Morton pulled down some timely rebounds and drew several charges against the big and physical Enid team.
The game was marred by technicals, flagrant fouls and cheapshots by the Enid squad. Although they are a very competitive and strong team, they solidified their reputation and history of being terrible sports and brutal play when they are losing. The first half included technical fouls and flagrant fouls and we actually should have had a larger lead if not for lackluster free throw shooting.
In the second half, one player was ejected for two technical fouls; another was kicked out for a flagrant foul and then a third player fouled out to leave Enid with only 3 players. After ANOTHER extremely hard (and cheapshot!) foul was called, Hardwood Productions tournament director
Jim Cox called the game off with just over a minute left on the clock.
After the game, while we were celebrating our championship and taking a team picture, a fight nearly broke out by the referee's room when an Enid representative physically threatened a referee. It was reminiscent of the semifinal game at Greg Swaim's tournament in Stillwater that we participated in last year. Enid was playing Edmond to see who would face us in the championship and ENID lost a one point decision in the waning seconds. On the court, the Enid coaches threatened the Edmond coaches as the teams "shook hands",,,then an Enid parent started yelling at the refs and the opposing coaches. Police had to be summoned to the gymnasium to escort the rowdy Enid folks out of the gym.
About two years ago, I was in bed with food poisioning from the "famous" Brookside By Day restaurant in Tulsa, Oklahoma and missed another Hardwood Championship game against Enid.
Coach McIlroy led us to victory when the Enid coach received his second technical in the second half,,and when told he had to leave, he said he was taking his team with him.
All the theatrics did not take away from an incredible performance from the Celtics.
During a timeout when we were down about 15 pts in the afternoon game, we tried to focus on improving our man to man defense and continue to play hard. I then shared the GOOD news that even if our efforts fell short, and we lost,,that if we took care of business against the Bulldogs, we would get a chance to play for the Championship. Additionally, we'd have an opportunity to redeem ourselves by getting another shot at the Devils. (It's not often a team gets an opportunity to return the favor of defeat on an opponent in 6 hours time!)
Mr. Shannon reminded me as I walked down the long sidewalk leading from the ORU aerobic center to the parking lot about the meaning of the FIRST Enid game. He had overheard me telling the team, what he yelled out his window as he drove by:
He yelled,"DIDDLY SQUAT!!!"
In the
St. Patrick's Shamrock Shoot-Out Championship game, the boys really kept their composure, played extremely hard, and some shots fell for us! Another gratifying weekend of basketball for the
Tulsa Celtics. Another Championship Plaque for the
Celtics.
