Smith gets his senior moment in KHS victory

It wasn’t a question if Kingfisher would win the game.

The Jackets did just that as they thumped a helpless Elk City squad 63-30 on Friday to close out the regular season on “Senior Night” at the APB.

The question: Would Kevin Smith score?

The popular senior basketball player had very few minutes and exactly no points for the season coming into the game.

But on a night that saw Izak Oaks get his first career start, Smith found himself on the court in the first half.

It ended with the Jackets up 34-10, but with no Smith points.

But he got another opportunity in the fourth quarter.

Smith was back on the floor with the game comfortably in hand.

And a few moments later, Smith was fouled and found himself at the free throw line.

The rowdy APB crowd grew almost completely silent as Smith sized up his first free throw.

With every eye in the gym on Smith, he missed.

But he got another opportunity.

Smith took his time, released his shot… …and he missed again.

But then sounded the whistle.

The Elks had committed a lane violation, which meant Smith was being given another opportunity to score.

He stepped back up to the line, dribbled once, dribbled twice, dribbled three times, looked at the rim and released his shot.

And Kevin Smith, who had missed all 8 of his previous free throw attempts this season… ….missed yet again. That was Smith’s best opportunity to score, but not his last.

One possession later, Croston Martin used a high pick-and-roll from Smith and fed his fellow senior in the paint.

And with 2:50 to play in the game and right under the bucket…Smith’s shot was blocked.

Time was literally running out for Smith.

Coach Colby Connel sent a batch of five new Yellowjackets to the scorer’s table to check as Elk City was busy missing a shot on its end of the floor.

As that crew made its way to the table, Arik Luke grabbed the rebound, dribbled up the near side, passed it to Martin, who found Smith just inside the 3-point line in the far corner.

Smith took one dribble around an Elk City defender and then another to position himself on the low block.

As he bounced off another defender, Smith let go his final shot… …And he made it. The gym, including the KHS bench, erupted with 2:22 to play in the game.

“That wasn’t something anyone asked for,” coach Colby Connel said. “I didn’t tell anyone to make it happen; they wanted it to happen.

“And it’s fun when something like that does happen.”

This is Connel’s third year as head coach of the program.

Smith has been there every step of the way and Connel will tell you that first year, the then-sophomore could barely shoot - much less make - a layup.

Smith stuck with it and the Kingfisher basketball team has reflected his progress through his career.

That first year, the Jackets won seven games.

Last year they won 16 and advanced to area.

The win over Elk City gave KHS a 17-7 mark.

And Smith, said Connel, has progressively improved as well.

Not to the point of gaining significant playing time, but Smith has a role.

“Kevin knows what we’re trying to do and vocalizes things very well,” Connel said. “It’s good to have a guy like that around and it’s why he got a varsity jersey.”

Smith also leads one of the team’s scout groups before and during games.

“He’s got guys in his group who play more minutes than him,” Connel said. “But that’s where he has his value.”

Teammates voted Smith their “funniest teammate.”

That played through after the game when Connel was giving his postgame speech.

Smith was holding up a piece of paper with the number “2” written on it.

Connel said it took him a couple of minutes to “get it,” but realized what it meant and couldn’t keep himself from laughing midspeech.

Smith was paying homage to Wilt Chamberlain after the latter had scored an NBA-record 100 points in a game and had his photo taken holding a piece of paper with that number written on it.

“That’s the kind of kid he is,” Connel said. “It was great to see him have that moment.”

Elk City had won just two games coming in, but both had come within the Elks’ three previous games.

The Elks quickly found themselves in a 20-4 hole as Hayes White nailed two of Kingfisher’s four first-quarter 3-pointers and had 10 points.

Michael Easley added 8 points in the second quarter as the lead swelled to 24 points.

White led 12 players in the scoring column with 16 points.

More important, all nine seniors on the roster scored.

Easley finished with 13 while Martin scored all 9 of his points in the first half.

Jackson Willbanks chipped in 6 points while Cash Laird scored 5, Oaks nailed a 3-pointer.

Smith got his bucket and Aidan Stephens scored 1.