Jackets shrug off slow start for district title

If there was any urgency in the Kingfisher boys basketball team, it didn’t show up early on Saturday.

It did, however, show up in plenty of time as the Jackets recovered to beat Cushing 67-51 in a Class 4A district championship.

The Jackets had seven turnovers in the game’s first four minutes and committed an eighth just seconds later.

That helped them dig an 8-2 deficit early in the game.

The turnovers didn’t get considerably better - they had 10 in the first quarter -but the scoring did.

Kingfisher answered with a 10-0 run in the quarter and led 13-10 before it was over.

It grew to 30-22 by halftime despite Cash Laird sitting the entire second quarter and a decent chunk of the first with foul trouble.

He grabbed his third foul with 39 seconds left in the first quarter.

In his absence, Michael Easley and Hayes White took up the scoring slack.

Easley scored 11 in the first half and White had 9 more.

They combined for 11 in the third as Kingfisher slowly built on its lead, which was 48-35 going into the fourth.

That’s when Laird’s scoring came alive as he scored 10 of his 16 points. The senior went 5 of 6 from the foul line and KHS was 10 of 15 as a team down the stretch.

That helped them hold off the Tigers, who entered the playoffs with a 10-game win streak.

Easley led the Jackets with 22 points.

He also had 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

White scored 15 while leading the team with 8 rebounds and 4 assists.

The win moved the Jackets to 18-7. They played Bristow at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in a regional semifinal in Cushing.

Bristow beat Cleveland 56-50 in their district final.

A win Tuesday gives the Jackets a chance to play for the regional title on Saturday night. A loss sends them to the consolation bracket where they’d play at 2:30 p.m. Friday.