Celtics Take March Madness Title for Fourth in a Row!

The Tulsa Celtics fought off a tenacious Tulsa Hawks squad to win their fourth consecutive championship. Brian Benson (Jenks), Brock Morton (Holland Hall) and Corey Shannon (Broken Arrow) spearheaded a Celtic flurry to start the second half and break open a tight ball game. Tournament MVP Chaquelle Quinn and late arriving Jarred Wise (yours truly failed to provide the location change) kept the Hawks from doing too much damage inside and Cale Hammond solid performance including a clutch 3 pointer in the 2nd half run keyed the Celtics.

We started off with a box and one and Corey Shannon disarmed the Hawk attack by making #15, a high flying forward, work his tail off to even GET the ball. By the time the Celtic run was over to start off the 2nd half, we held a 23 point lead and #15 had very little gas left in his tank to mount any kind of a comeback.

The Celtics did a great job on defense and we drew 4 charging calls and could have had 2 more.

Chaquelle Quinn notched about 8 pts and grabbed some big rebounds before fouling out after the game was decided. Chaq's presence in the paint and superb attitude made him a valuable asset during the tourney.

Quinn, Wise, Morton, Hammond, Shannon & Benson.....earned the right to sing again, "We are the Champions....." Excellent tournament Celtics!!!

Gym Time Hoops - March Madness Invitational

As state tournaments have concluded, and NCAA madness in full swing, the Junior Celtics entered another tournament; Friday and Saturday rounds were played at the Broken Arrow Community Center and we played our first game Friday night.

The Junior Celtics this weekend are composed of Jarred Wise, Chaquelle Quinn, Brock Morton, Cale Hammond and the return of two "original brand Celtics", 15 yr olds Corey Shannon and Brian Benson. Since the 11th grade division didn't make, they combined the 15 and under and the 14 and under in the same bracket.

Guess who we played Friday night? The HAWKS. It was pretty physical game and we ended up winning by nine points. Saturday, March 18th, we notched 88 pts as we glided to a victory over the Federal Ballerz who wore "Byrd" Explorers uniforms. Cale Hammond knocked down 5 consecutive three pointers; Wise and Quinn controlled the inside; Benson, Shannon and Morton played their normal solid games.

We played a group from Cascia Hall in our next game and although we held an 8 pt halftime lead; the Cascia group was outplaying us; getting loose balls, rebounding better and just plain playing HARDER then we were. I got on our team at halftime for their lackluster effort and challenged them to take control and play hard.

They responded and the second half was more like a typical CELTIC game. We advanced to our fourth straight championship game with a 20 point victory.

We expect to meet the HAWKS for the fourth time in one week, tonight at 5 pm for the Championship. The game will be played at North Mabee Red Shield Boys Club at 12th and North Harvard at 5 pm.

Jr. Celtics Seize BULLDOG Tourney Championship

Below: Morton and Pinkerton still have on their game faces

while showing off their Championship bling bling.
As expected, the Hawks advanced through the losers bracket for a rematch. This time the stakes were higher. One game winner take all championship. Individual trophies for the players.

The Celtics were up to the task as they seized control early and built a 16 point lead; however, they couldn't keep the athletic & tenacious Hawks from coming back to make it a ballgame. The Hawks actually cut the lead to 35-28 with about 3 minutes left.We did what was necessary and ended up taking the championship by 10 points.

Three straight Championships. Still undefeated as Junior Celtics.

Jr. Celtics Continue Streak - "Hammond Time!"

The Tulsa Jr. Celtics won their third straight tournament with a slightly different cast of players last week in the Tulsa Bulldog Basketball Tournament played at the Frank Herald gym at Jenks HS.



Cale Hammond, Brock Morton, Jarred Wise, C.J. Sidorakis and Chaquelle Quinn were joined by two Verdigris players; Jared Whitmire and Chris Reif. Since it was Jared and Chris's first game with the Celtics, we focused on teaching "Celtic" and two inbounds plays. The Celtics easily handled their first opponent, the BLAZERS on Saturday after receiving a first round bye to advance to Sunday's semifinal against the Tulsa Hawks who had defeated the Owasso Rams and the DAWGZ (or maybe Tulsa HEAT).

It was a very hard fought game. The refs allowed pretty physical play and we squandered a 10 point lead late in the second half and it became a full fledged dogfight, appropriate I guess since the tourney was the BULLDOG tournament.

The Hawks hit a 3 pointer to tie the game with less than 20 seconds to go; we handled the pressure and took a shot with seconds left that was a blatant foul; however, in reality, it was NOT a foul because the referee did not call it. The shot bounced off and we went into a one minute overtime period.

OVERTIME: Hammond Heroics

The Hawks scored on a follow shot (our inside defensive positioning was horrendous!) and we called timeout with about 14 seconds left in the game. Brock got the inbounds pass and reversed several times before driving left of the lane with two guys hanging on him; he passed to Jared Whitmire in the corner as the clock ticked down to five seconds; handling pressure he threw a short 5 ft pass back to Brock but it was directed at Brock's ankle; 3 seconds left; Brock grabbed it with two hands, pivoted and fired a two-hand overhead pass to a wide open Cale Hammond, just right of the top of the key; he caught & launched with a nice release..... 1 second......and as the buzzer sounded, the Celtic contingent of players and fans were relieved as the ball almost simultaneously cut through the cords without touching rim,,,,,and the junior CELTICS had continued their undefeated streak and advanced to the Championship game to be played later that day.


As expected, the Hawks advanced through the losers bracket for a rematch. This time the stakes were higher. One game championship. Individual trophies for the players.

The Celtics were up to the task as they seized control early and built a 16 point lead; however, they couldn't keep the athletic & tenacious Hawks from coming back to make it a ballgame. The Hawks actually cut the lead to 35-28 with about 3 minutes left.

We did what was necessary and ended up taking the championship by 10 points. Three straight Championships. Still undefeated as Junior Celtics.

Jr. CELTICS Fittingly take SHAMROCK SHOOTOUT GOLD!

The Junior Celtics won four straight games on Saturday and Sunday to claim their second straight Hardwood Tournament Championship. The same six players returned to defend their championship and displayed great effort to go along with their obvious basketball skills.

With Brock Morton typically running the point, C.J. Sidorakis and Price Pinkerton and Cale Hammond manning the wings, and Jarred Wise and Chaquille Quinn on the block, the six man squad took care of business.

In their 3rd game, they met up with the mighty Tulsa Titans, who we were told finished second in a national tournament. The 14 talented players of the Titans waged quite a war with our iron man six, but in the end, the Jr. Celtics made the plays in crunch time to hold off the Titans 46-43 to advance to the championship game.

The Titans, obviously not accustomed to losing, met up with a red-hot Disciples squad in the third place game. The Disciples were on fire from 3 pt range and opened up an early 15 pt lead and then held off the shell-shocked Titans to get another shot at our Celtic squad.

But the Celtics came out with the necessary intensity and never let up, and easily won in a 67-41 victory to claim the Shamrock Shootout championship plaque and first place medals.

It was definitely a TEAM victory and each of the six Celtics performed well with great effort to secure the victory.

Hardwood Shamrock Shootout! 2006

The Junior Celtics kicked off the tournament with a Saturday morning 8 am tipoff. The Celtics kicked the Tulsa Dawgs to the side of the street with a 25 point victory. Wise, Pinkerton, Sidorakis, Hammond, Quinn & Morton played hard and earned the victory to send the Celtics into the second round.