His focus was the back of the rim.

Not the crowd. Not the situation.

Just the hub of orange painted metal positioned near the backboard.

Xavier Ridenour’s ability to block everything else out proved vital as the Kingfisher junior helped bring home yet another Wheat Capital Tournament title.

The junior sank a pair of free throws with .3 second showing on the clock to give the Yellowjackets a 41-39 victory over Alva in a battle of unbeatens Saturday night in the tournament’s 53rd annual showing.

The free throws and Alva’s ensuing desperation attempt to tie ended a hectic, frantic final few moments that saw two turnovers and foul in the final 6.2 seconds alone.

The Jackets fully squandered a nine-point lead in the final half of the fourth quarter when Alva’s Austin Reed followed up a Jackson Feely miss with a putback.

Reed’s bucket tied the game at 39-39 to complete a 9-0 run by the Goldbugs.

They’d also get a chance to win it.

Kingfisher turned the ball over with 6.2 seconds remaining when Caden Kitchens tried to feed Maddox Mecklenburg from the high post to the low post.

The low pass went out of bounds, giving Alva, Class 3A’s second-ranked team, a chance to win.

After a timeout, though, Ridenour batted down a Feely pass, then was knocked to the ground as Feely tried to regain possession.

A foul was called on the Alva junior with less than a second remaining and sent Ridenour to the line for a one-and-one.

The tournament championship hung in the balance of his free throws.

“I was just focusing on the back of the rim and all the time I put into shooting free throws on my own,” Ridenour said.

“I kept my mind away from how big the shots were.”

His concentration helped bring KHS its third consecutive Wheat Capital title and eighth in nine years.

The lone exception was 2019 when the Jackets’ JV team competed after the varsity played in the Tournament of Champions.

“We’ve had some exciting wins there, but this is right up there with the craziest of them,” said coach Jared Reese, who’s never lost a game with Kingfisher at the Wheat Capital.

As has been customary this season, Kingfisher struggled out of the gate.

Alva used a 9-0 run to take a 14-6 lead before Mecklenburg ended the first quarter with a 3-pointer.

That helped Kingfisher claw back into it and the Jackets took a one-point halftime lead when Mecklenburg hit Kitchens underneath for a bump off the glass.

The Jackets were seemingly in command midway through the fourth quarter when Ridenour picked Feely and scored a layup for a 39-30 lead with 4:03 to play.

It capped a 7-0 KHS run that included a Mecklenburg 3-pointer with 6:12 left.

However, Ridenour’s bucket proved to be Kingfisher’s final field goal of the game.

As the Jackets tried to chew time off the clock, the Goldbugs chewed into their deficit.

Daylon Malone knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:38 to play to pull his team within 39-37.

The Jackets turned it right back over to the Goldbugs, but it wasn’t until the game’s final 30 seconds that they were able to tie it up.

The one-point win was Kingfisher’s second such narrow victory of the season.

When KHS won 42-41 at Newcastle, it was Ridenour who scored the game-winning bucket in the waning moments.

“I love being a part of the team and after watching previous years’ successes, I want to do whatever I can to make a repeat happen,” he said.

Ridenour scored 10 points in the championship game and was named to the all-tournament team.

He scored 17 points in the Jackets’ 58-44 victory over John Marshall in the semifinals.

The Jackets trailed 26-24 at the half, but led by four points entering the fourth.

They closed with an 18-8 run on the Bears.

Ridenour was 8 for 8 from the line and KHS was 21 of 25 as a team.

Free throws proved pivotal in the finals as well.

The Jackets made 10 of their 14 while Alva didn’t attempt one.

While Ridenour provided some of the more dramatic plays, the steadying force for the Jackets was Mecklenburg.

He was the lone KHS player to reach double figures in all three games.

The junior knocked down four 3-pointers and scored 14 in the opening-round win over Chisholm.

He came back to score 14 against the Bears, which included two more treys.

Mecklenburg then scored a team-high 13 - with two more 3-pointers - in the finals.

He was named the tournament MVP joining the likes of Jace Sternberger, Jett Sternberger, Trey Green, Bijan Cortes and Matthew Stone.

“Those guys are all great players, so it definitely makes me feel pretty good to be a part of that list,” Mecklenburg said.

The tournament was a breakout of sorts for Mecklenburg, who had struggled offensively for several of Kingfisher’s first eight games of the season.

“For us to be as good as we want to be, we need Maddox to play well,” Reese said. “He showed signs of that at Chisholm. Now we need to put it all together as a team every night and keep trying to improve.”

Mecklenburg knew his game would come around thanks in part, he said, to his surroundings.

“I would definitely say the confidence my teammates and coaches have in me really helped me to start shooting better,” he said. “They would constantly remind me to forget the last shot and keep shooting.

“That’s what I did and it certainly felt really good to start playing at the level I know I’m capable of.”

The wins moved KHS to 11-0 on the season. The Jackets have won 31 straight games overall.

While only two have been by double digits, the Jackets have several times had to close strong to pull away.

Mecklenburg said that’s a product of practice.

“Our coaches keep us prepared by having us play through different close game scenarios in practice,” he said.

“We also just have confidence in ourselves and always believe we’re going to win and so far that’s what we’ve done.”