No. 1 Longhorns hold off Granite; reach semis for 2nd straight year

No. 1 Dover rode a furious start to a 52-38 victory over Granite early Tuesday evening in the Class B-II boys basketball state tournament at OG&E Coliseum.

The Longhorns are in the semifinals for a second straight year after having only advanced that far once in the program’s history prior to last year.

Dover played Leedey at noon Friday (after press time) at the coliseum in the semifinal round. The Longhorns scored the game’s first seven points and were up 17-2 by the end of the first quarter.

It was 22-4 early in the third quarter before the Panthers started to find their footing. That also coincided with Dover’s Casen Buck picking up his second and third fouls.

Granite pulled within 28-19 at the half.

Buck started to find his range in the third and his 3-pointer with 1:05 to go in the quarter pushed the Longhorns up by 16.

Granite never truly threatened, but did pull within 10 on Gavin Esparza’s long 3-pointer that banked in with 3:31 left.

The Panthers didn’t score again and Buck made 4 straight free throws late to help seal it.

A third generation Longhorn to play in the state tournament, Buck led Dover with 18 points and 5 rebounds. He scored 13 in the second half.

A.J. Avila stepped up in the first half when the Panthers focused a lot of defensive attention on Buck and Daxx Compton. He scored all 10 of his points in the first two quarters.

Compton scored 9 and led the team with 4 assists and Kyler Williams also dropped in 9 as Dover improved to 28-2.

Granite is coached by Okarche alum Kol Bomhoff, who guided the program to state for the second time in three years.

The Panthers’ season ended with a 19-13 record.