It is that time of season and we have finally reached the State Tournament and congratulations, You have made it to the big house! This is the last year at the big house before the new arena is open so let’s make this the best one yet! Follow along as I preview the State Tournament matchups and hear from the coaches as they give their thoughts.
#1 Okarche vs Texhoma
Tuesday at 9:00am
Last Appearance: Okarche (Third consecutive) Texhoma (First since 2023)
Okarche’s road to the gold ball began with wins over Cherokee 99-36 in districts, Garber 91-36 and Pond Creek-Hunter 95-45 in regionals and Red Oak 88-51 in the area tournament to advance to the state tournament. Texhoma’s road to the gold ball began with wins over Fargo-Gage/Ft. Supply 75-45 and Turpin 59-48 in districts, Lost first round of regionals to Southwest Covenant 62-51 but rattled off five big wins in a row over Apache 68-59 and Canute 55-52 in regionals followed by wins over Dewar 64-45, The Academy 38-37 and Southwest Covenant 75-72 in the area tournament to advance to the state tournament.
OKARCHE head coach Aaron West
The road to the big house. We district championship versus Cherokee. We played Cherokee in districts 99-36. We beat pretty good Garber team. We beat them 91-36 and then we played #17 Pond Creek-Hunter. beat them 95 to 45 and then we had #8 Red Oak in the area finals beat them 88-51. The anticipation leading up, you know to the state tournament and just playoffs in general is always a special time especially at Okarche and small school basketball in Oklahoma . You know we have a lot of tradition here and it’s something all of our players dream of doing is making it to the big house. it’s something that we always look forward to doing. It’s something that you know Okarche people expect doing and is something that we always strive for as players and coaches here. It’s always a great feeling to make it to the state tournament. You know this will be our third year in a row to go. There’s never a time it’s not enjoyable. It’s something like I said we always strive for our kids who are very excited. You know that they played a great game versus Red Oak and I think they’re ready to go this week and they’ve been highly focused and highly driven all year obviously to make it back to the state tournament. They are focused and driven young men who are excited to be back at the big house for the very last year.
Best Memory of Being at The Big House
The big house, a few a few favorite memories you know going to the to the big house with father Coach Ray West and then me being able to take my own children there to watch games and experience what ingot to experience with my dad. We always set up in section 330 and a lot of my dad’s former players and coaches would sit up there with us so that was very an enjoyable experience over the years. Being able to play in the state championship game under my father in 1997 at Okarche as a player and then being able to coach with my father in 2019 as his assistant at the state tournament was a very memorable experience and then winning the state championship in 2024 at Okarche and this the emotions that you have and experience knowing all the great teams that came through and just being able to experience hoisting the gold ball on the last day. I’ll miss the smell of the big house with all of the food and the just the nostalgia of the place.
TEXHOMA head coach Greg Higgins
Well we have traveled 10,000 miles!…not really… just 2,041 miles just for Districts, Regionals, and Area! We have played in every game possible. We were picked to play the first round of districts, but came out as District champions. We lost in the first round of Regionals to Southwest Covenant, so we got to play all three days there and in Area as well. We have spent 5 nights in hotels already, just for Regionals and Area. We got home from Stroud at 4:00am Sunday morning and will leave Monday morning at 9:00am to travel back for Tuesday’s 9:00am game against Okarche. Our spirit bus will leave at 3:30am Tuesday morning to get to the game! We have had students ride the bus back and forth for three consecutive days to cheer us on at the Area tournament. That’s 1,980 miles in three days on a bus! Not a single game has been a cake walk. The boys have played with grit and determination. They never give up, even when they were down by 21 points to Southwest Covenant in the area consolations. We went on like a 35 to 7 run in the last 11 to 12 minutes of the game to punch our ticket to the Big House! It has been an emotional couple of days with every W that came our way this weekend. We had two leads against The Academy on Friday—one at the beginning of the game and the other in the last 20 seconds of the game! The boys are excited to get to the Big House. Some have played there and some have never seen it! The boys are warriors and will not be set back, they are #SetApart!
Best Memory of Being at The Big House
Lots of memories, 1994 State Champions as an asst to Coach Ron Murphey, 2009 State runner up to Preston in OT, a double OT win vs Okarche at a 9:00 am on semi final Friday. 3 State Tournaments in last 5 years.
#3 Rattan vs Sterling
Tuesday at 10:30am
Last Appearance: Rattan (Third consecutive) Sterling (First since 2013)
Rattan’s road to the gold ball began with a win over Rattan 75-40, Wins over Riverfield 64-34 and Allen 74-61 in regionals, Lost to Cyril 64-60 in overtime but bounced back against Allen in four overtimes 66-60 in the area tournament to advance to the area tournament. Sterling’s road to the gold ball began with wins over Carnegie 57-51 in districts, Wins over Hydro-Eakly 58-50 and Central High and OK Christian Academy 58-51 in the area tournament to advance to the state tournament.
RATTAN head coach Michael Clay
Our road had a few potholes and speed bumps for sure. We beat a young Allen team in the regional finals. Lost to Cyril in overtime in the Area finals. Then met up with Allen again in the Area consolation game and won in four overtimes. That was probably the best game of the year regardless of class. Coming into the season, our goal was just like everyone else’s, win a gold ball. We think we are one of the contenders. When you punch your ticket, it’s like a sigh of relief. Now all it takes is 3 good days of basketball to have a chance to win it. We are excited and ready to go. The state tournament field has some regulars and a few new guys. It is always awesome to be playing for a state championship. We have a little bit of a winning tradition in baseball and have been to the state tournament a few times and we are beginning to see that carrying over to basketball. You can’t start a tradition without good young men. We have had a few graduate that got the wheels rolling and continue to have guys step in and keep rolling in the right direction. Hopefully, the third time is a charm.
Best Memory of Being at The Big House
Getting to play in the big house my jr year in high school in 1994 was pretty exciting. But it ranks second to coaching both of my sons in the big house. One in 2010 and the other in 2023 and I’m sure most coaches would say the same.
#12 Summit Christian vs #4 Okay
Tuesday at 12:00pm
Last Appearance: Summit Christian (First in school history) Okay (Fourth consecutive since 2022)
Summit Christian’s road to the gold ball began with wins over Wesleyan Christian 60-36 in districts, Ripley 47-34 and fell to Red Oak 49-46 in the regional championship but won three straight in the area tournament over Garber 55-50, Wesleyan Christian 51-42 and Red Oak 59-43 to advance to the state tournament. Okay’s road to the gold ball began with wins over Regent Prep 66-44 in districts, Wins over Gore 66-27 and Dewar 67-42 in regionals and Southwest Covenant 46-43 in the area tournament to advance to the state tournament.
SUMMIT CHRISTIAN head coach Tim VanDuser
Our journey has been pretty special since last season. Last year was the year we really thought we could start making some noise. Played a tough schedule going 20-7 and we ended up getting beat by Red Oak in Regionals and Liberty in the Area Semis. We graduated 4 seniors last year who really paved the way for our program getting off the ground.
Then this year returning 6 seniors and 3 juniors all with high level experience from last season, we knew it could be pretty special once again. We had an excellent summer going 17-2; beat some high level 3A, 4A, 5A teams at our camps we attended. And then as the season started, definitely still felt a little overlooked to be honest all year. I don’t think we entered the rankings until week 4 then that’s when everyone started to notice us a bit more.
Going into playoffs we definitely had a tough road. Beat a very good 20 win Wesleyan Christian team in Districts, then beat a talented #15 ranked Ripley. We took a very close 3 pt loss against #8 Red Oak in the Regional final; pretty devastated w that one since it was our 1st loss of the season. We didn’t let it get us down, we re-grouped and took on a tough Garber team in Area, and then rematched Wesleyan and then of course we got another shot at Red Oak again last night.
Anticipation for the tourney is unreal to be honest and can’t really think to much with a tight turnaround! Our reaction is basically it was our goal all season to make it to the big dance so a lot of tears were spent last night by everyone when it became reality. We stayed together as a team til the early morning today just enjoying the moment! The whole SC school it felt like came out last night to support us and we have an incredible fan base and student section who are ready to make it down to the big house to support. We have put in so much work over the past few years to develop these boys and our program and it’s pretty awesome to see the work coming to fruition.
Best Memory of Being at The Big House
It was always a place that made players dreams come true as State Champs.
#11 Cyril vs #2 Caddo
Tuesday at 1:30pm
Last Appearance: Cyril (First since 2021) Caddo (Fourth consecutive)
Cyril’s road to the gold ball began with wins over Wayne 74-39, Wins over Velma-Alma 58-56 and Wright City 83-76 in regionals and Rattan 64-60 in overtime in the area tournament to advance to the state tournament. Caddo’s road to the gold ball began with a win over Rock Creek 86-31 in districts, Lost the opening round of regionals to Central High 58-51 but won five straight games including back to back wins over Carnegie 52-36 and Hydro-Eakly 57-34 in regionals and three wins over Binger-Oney 66-56, Thomas-Fay-Custer 46-39 and OK Christian Academy 54-42 in the area tournament to advance to the state tournament.
CADDO head coach Kolby Johnson
The road to the big house is never an easy one. Our hard work the past season, as well as the years before, has given us an amazing opportunity yet again. Our boys have really showed determination this season, which I am extremely proud of. Our girls continue to work hard every game. That’s just a testament as to how good of players these girls are and how they put 100% into everything they do.
Best Memory of Being at The Big House
Winning a big game vs Red Oak in overtime.
The OKPreps Rundown 
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