Jackets complete sweep of Tuttle

The game always seemed in hand, but Kingfisher also couldn’t put Tuttle away.

That became evident to start the second half when the Tigers opened with a 7-0 run to tie the game.

But Kingfisher responded with a 9-0 spurt of its own and eventually garnered some distance from the visitors in a 51-41 victory at the APB on Tuesday.

With the win, KHS moved to 6-1 on the season and 2-0 in the Western Athletic Conference.

The Jackets, ranked 12th in Class 4A, won’t play again until Jan. 6 when they host Casady.

Kingfisher built an eightpoint lead in the first quarter on the strength of nine points from forward Michael Easley.

The advantage grew to double digits in the second quarter but was trimmed to 26-19 by halftime.

The Tigers’ Donnie Schluter started the second half on fire as he scored seven unanswered points. His 3-pointer at the 5:38 mark of the quarter tied the game at 26-all.

That prompted a Colby Connel timeout, which led to Kingfisher scoring nine straight to end the quarter.

Easley put Kingfisher up 33-26 with his bucket at 2:07 and then Hayes White scored with 50 seconds to go to make it 35-26.

Again, the Jackets couldn’t build on the momentum and put the Tigers away, but Tuttle also couldn’t catch up.

Kingfisher was 5 of 8 from the foul line down the stretch to help that cause.

Croston Martin also knocked down a big 3-pointer in the game’s final 2 minutes to turn it into an 11-point margin.

Martin scored 4 of his 6 points in the fourth quarter.

Easley led the team with 19 and led a trio of Jackets in double digits.

White finished with 11 and had a team-high 5 assists.

Cash Laird also scored 11, 9 of which came in the second half, and led the team with 7 rebounds.