MOORE — Friday night was not a good one for the boys basketball teams in the Moore School District. All three teams lost in the first round of the Regional tournament.
Moore fell to Booker T. Washington, Westmoore lost to Putnam City North and Southmoore dropped one to Eisenhower.
“We were outsized,” Southmoore coach Wes Brown said. “They had good athletes. They didn’t do anything special, they just kind of pushed us around a little bit. They were a lot bigger than we were. My kids competed. They played real hard to the very end. There was no give up in them. They fought to the end. I’m pleased with how we finished as far as playing hard and not giving up.”
While the Cats went into the game as underdogs, the Jaguars were a favorite to advance to the second round.
“It was tough because obviously we would have liked to make a run in the playoffs,’ Westmoore coach Scott Hodges said. “I told them though to not let one game define your season. We had a really good season and now that I look back on it, it should be something our guys are really proud of.”
The season comes to an for the SaberCats, Lions and Jaguars. For Southmoore it has one filled with drama and conflicts. But Brown was impressed with how his team continued to battle despite losing Dominique Caster, Braydon Powell, Justin Cates and Jaelon Walker for a variety of reasons during the season.
We were outsized, hey had good athletes. They didn’t do anything special, they just kind of pushed us around a little bit. They were a lot bigger than we were. My kids competed. They played real hard to the very end. There was no give up in them. They fought to the end. I’m pleased with how we finished as far as playing hard and not giving up.”
Despite the early postseason exit, Hodges looks at the year as a success.
“Considering we graduated nine seniors who played a ton last season and didn’t have much experience coming back, I really think we had a great season,” Hodges said. “We won 16 regular season games which is the most any Westmoore team has won in 11 or 12 years probably. We were City Champs for the third straight year, we went 10-4 in our conference, we played in 3 tournament championship games. I think we had a season that we can look back on and say we accomplished a lot. Our guys really did everything they needed to do to give us a chance to win every night, I am really proud of that and where we are as a basketball program.”
