This and That....

Brian Benson, CELTIC sophomore at Jenks High School, was named MVP in last weekend's Varsity tournament as he led the JENKS Sophomore squad to the championship. Way to go Brian!!!!

Price Pinkerton and his Cascia Hall Commando's 9th grade team knocked off the Holland Hall Dutch 9th grade squad which included Brock Morton and Alan Santos. It was the Dutch squad's first EVER loss after rolling through undefeated seasons in 7th, 8th and 9th grade,,until last night. Cascia rolled to a 19-3 lead after the first quarter, before Morton and Santos brought the Dutch back to within 4 points in the fourth quarter. Cascia held off the phenomenal rally for a 35-30 victory. The Dutch were playing without Creighton Williams who is getting lots of minutes at point guard with the Holland Hall varsity.

Matt Reynolds, Matt Maguire and Sean McIlroy are leading the Kelly Comets 9th grade team to a nice season. Reynolds and McIlroy also play with the JV; and Reynolds has been part of the undefeated Comets varsity squad too.

Still waiting on updates from Broken Arrow (Corey Shannon) and Union (Jarred Wise).

Celtics T.E.A.M. Pounds Owasso for MLK Championship!

The six-man junior Celtics swept through the Hardwood Classic's Martin Luther King tournament this weekend culminating with a 65-37 throttling of the Owasso Rams at the East Central High School gym.

The acronym T-E-A-M has been said to mean Together Everyone Achieves More and the six players who donned the CELTIC green jerseys bought into TEAM this weekend. Three players making their first appearance as CELTICS (C.J. Sidorakis, Cale Hammond & Chaquelle Quinn) joined three Celtic veterans (Brock Morton, Jarred Wise & Price Pinkerton) and the combination marched undefeated through the tournament.

At times it looked like the group had been playing together for years. With Wise dominating the backboards triggering numerous fast breaks that C.J., Price and Brock finished off with regularity, the Celtics took control early in the Championship game and never allowed the Rams to get back into the game. Cale added three 3-pointers, and Chaquelle continued to improve while picking up some nice baskets and battling hard on the boards. Price and C.J. used their spectacular body control over and over on knifing drives to the hole. They seemed to hang forever in the air while making small adjustments to "will" the ball into the basket. Those two and Brock added to Cale's three pointers with many of their own to make it an all around T.E.A.M. victory.

Unselfishness and quality ball movement repeatedly opened up wide open shots and the CELTICS converted a high percentage of 3 pt. shots.

At different times, C.J., Price and Brock supported Jarred in the "battle for boards" and Chaq and Cale snared several of their own. Overall defensive effort and "help" by the unit on the floor kept the Rams at bay as the Celtics opened up a 30 point first half lead and never looked back.

It was a wonderful thing to watch.

Jr. Celtics Control Jr. Hurricanes, 49-19

Jumping out to an early 16-3 lead, the Celtics never looked back as they delivered a 49-19 knockout punch to the young Hurricane squad. All six Celtics scored and took care of business to set up a 6:30 pm CHAMPIONSHIP game. More than likely, it will be a rematch with the Owasso Rams.

Jr. Celtics Overpower the Disciples, 55-43

Brock Morton's long 3 pointer at the first half buzzer gave the Jr. Celtics a 30-29 halftime lead. It was his fifth 3 pointer of the first half. With "large bodies"Jarred Wise and Chaquille Quinn plugging up the inside, and Price Pinkerton, Cale Hammond and C.J. Sidorakis manning the perimeter, the Celtics finally slowed down the Disciples who played well together and had 3 quality shooters from 3 pt. range. The smaller Disciples seemed to get every first half loose ball and outhustled us on the boards.

Their #4 hit "nuttin but net" two times (corner; 3 pt shots) in the first 90 seconds of the game. We called timeout and went to a box and one, and Price shut him out, although #3 hit more 3's and #10 played great inside as the smaller Disciples were taking it to us early.

The 2nd half we had better ball movement and rebounded a lot better on both ends of the court. We took control at 2nd half tipoff and built a 17 point lead. The Disciples never cut the lead to less than 10.

Chaquille banked in two free throws and grabbed some big defensive rebounds in the 2nd half, to go along with 2 field goals. Chaq is working on his footwork and improves every minute of action.

Price made some great drives and used his strength and athleticness to notch some important baskets early in the 2nd half to help us build up a lead. C.J., Brock & Jarred worked well together and played very consistently on both ends of the court. C.J.'s ability to lead a fast break, AND finish it with a power layup if necessary, makes him extremely dangerous because of his excellent passing skills and vision. Cale is learning how to handle pressure and what it takes to play against quality competion; in addition, his excellent shooting skills came through at key moments to help fend off the Disciples comeback attempts. Jarred made some excellent passes and is such a presence in the middle that it opens it up for our outside game.

We play in a few hours in the winners bracket finals; probably against the Sam Mack coached Junior Hurricanes. The winner of that game advances to the Championship game tonight at 6:40 pm while the loser gets to battle in the "losers" bracket to try and get back to the Championship game.

With six players, everyone is getting lots of minutes of experience and improving their game skills. It's a fun bunch to Coach, and I appreciate the opportunity!

Junior Celtics - 55

Oklahoma Disciples - 43

Martin Luther King Tourney Tip's OFF

The Junior Celtics made their debut on the hardcourt of East Central High School this morning. Three young scholar athletes, representing Kelley, Jenks & Holland Hall had their first taste of playing as a Celtic. C.J. Sidorakis (Jenks), Chaqquelle Quinn (Holland Hall) & Cale Hammond (Bishop Kelley) competed and mixed smoothly with "veteran" Celtics Jarred Wise (Union), Price Pinkerton (Cascia Hall) and Brock Morton (Holland Hall). The six man roster battled a tough and talented Owasso Ram team which featured Bontrager, Hightower & #25 who had a very impressive game to lead the Rams.

In the 2nd half, with the Junior Celtics holding a 39-31 lead, a power surge knocked out the electricity for a split second and because most of the lights were the old time Halogen style, we incurred about a 10 minute TIMEOUT. About 8 minutes remained on the clock.

It allowed us to regroup, talk about what needed to happen, and with input from the team, we decided to try a triangle and two defense. The halftimes at the Hardwood tournaments are 3 minutes long. The LIGHTS delay was almost three times that. Although some call the triangle and two a "gimmick" defense, the Celtics have utilized it successfully over the years to nullify opponents that were hurting us.

When the LIGHTS come back on:
We talked about how critical the first two minutes were going to be; an opportunity for the KNOCKOUT punch would occur, or we could resolve ourselves to keep plugging along, and allow Owasso to stay in the game until the last two minutes.

After the long break, we came out with a vengeance. C.J. & Price manned up on #25 and Hightower, and the "gimmick" defense did it's job. We figuratively "TURNED OFF" Owasso's lights and blew them out of the gym. It was a total team effort, and everyone scored.

C.J. scored from inside and out while crashing the boards hard; Brock nailed five three pointers and played point guard without making a turnover. Price hit a 3-pointer, made some great drives and added some creative passing; Cale hit a 3 pointer, played solid defense and improved as the game went on. Jarred plugged up the middle, had a batch of rebounds and consistently scored. Chaqquelle scored several times, pulled down 6 rebounds and gained lots of valuable experience.

FINAL SCORE :
Junior Celtics 68
Owasso Rams 37

The jr. Celtics advance to the next round of the winner's bracket and play an early 8 a.m. game at the East Central gymnasium. I strongly urged the six jr. Celtics to abide by the "lights out no later than 3:15 a.m. curfew" since we are meeting at 7:25 a.m. to get ready for the next game.I look forward to coaching this group tomorrow, and expect a successful day of games.

Kale Larkin - Update from Seattle, Washington

Possibly the best 3 point scorer ever to play with the Celtics, 9th grader Kale Larkin is playing with both the freshman and JV Bellarmine High School team. The freshman team is 3-1 and the JV team is 5-1. In a recent game, Kale notched 22 points. Great job Kale!

Here is an update from Kale's dad, Wayne:

The program at Bellarmine is quite good. They play in the largest classification in the state. (Marvin Williams # 2 pick in last spring’s NBA draft played at Bremerton .. same league) The starting PG from Kale’s team last year got a full ride to S. Oregon and the 2 guard from that team ( senior this year) is being recruited this year, most notably by Hawaii …. Kale is a shade over 6’1” these days as well…. Tracey and I really like the coaches and the program…..

A New Year~

It is basketball season and this time players who have worn the green Celtic jersey are playing for a wide range of high schools. Sophomore Brian Benson was part of the Jenks Trojans incredible comeback, double overtime victory over Edmond Santa Fe and last years player of the year Obi Manuelo. Jarred Wise plays for Union; Matt MaGuire, Matt Reynolds & Sean McIlroy lead the Kelley 9th grade squad; Brock Morton, Alan Santos and Creighton Williams have kept their Holland Hall 7th, 8th and now 9th grade undefeated streak for at least another year; former Dutch Price Pinkerton goes Commando now for Cascia Hall; Kale Larkin has moved to the Seattle, Washington area and is starring on the 9th grade Bellarmine team. Corey Shannon plays for the Broken Arrow Tigers and Marvin Ebigwu is focusing on soccer at Union High School.