Hosting a regional for the first time in years didn't go exactly as planned, as Lawton High was stunned Friday night by Choctaw, losing 63-61 on its home court.
Choctaw's Brock Schreiner -- who scored a game-high 24 points -- wove his way into the paint and threw up the game-winning floater off the glass, getting it to fall with three seconds left.
Trailing by two and having the full length of the court to go, No. 13 Lawton (14-7) was unable to get a final shot off.
Senior guard Tre Vaughn -- who scored 15 points -- corralled the ball past half court, but he tried to take it to the rim instead of pulling up for the jump shot.
He didn't get the final shot off, and the season ended sour for the Wolverines, who were the favorite to win their regional.
"In the end, it came down to being disciplined and we weren't disciplined at all late in the game," LHS coach Eric Wiley said. "It ended up losing us the game and costing us our season. Our big issue was trying to stop No. 15 (Schreiner). I kept telling the guys to be disciplined and stay in front of him, but every time we'd reach, he'd spin and get to the basket."
This was the third meeting between LHS and Choctaw (8-15) this season with the Wolverines winning each game by five points or less. Friday's playoff game proved that beating a team three times in one season is no easy feat.
"I kept telling them Choctaw was no cupcake and sure enough, they came back to bite us in the end," Wiley said.
LHS had the ball in a tie game at 61 apiece with 30 seconds left, but Vaughn was called for a push-off as he drove into the lane. It was just another late game turnover that had ended up costing the Wolverines the game as well as their season.
Lawton used a 9-0 run to take a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Yellowjackets answered with nine straight points of their own to seize momentum. Still in shock that their big lead had disappeared, the Wolverines froze and coughed up the ball on three consecutive possessions.
"We shouldn't have been in that position because we should've protected the lead when we had it," Wiley said. "We just didn't take care of the ball. That's been our problem all year -- putting the game away when we're in control."
The Wolverines and Yellowjackets went back-and-forth throughout the game with neither team pulling away until LHS had suddenly jumped out to a double-digit lead in the fourth. At the end of the first, it was tied at 13. By halftime, it was still tied at 28. And at the end of the third, LHS held a narrow 47-45 lead.
Ashawnti Hunter led LHS with 16 points and Mark Berry added another 12 points. DD Michael chipped in 10 more, but none of the Wolverines could score in the waning moments thanks to the costly turnovers and ineffective clock management.
"What frustrates me is that we worked on this," Wiley said. "I told them just to hold it. With four timeouts, we didn't need to rush our offense but we kept forcing stuff. Just because we call a play, it doesn't mean you have to rush your way down the court and score immediately. We didn't take any time off the clock and turned the ball over instead."
The Yellowjackets booked themselves a ticket to next weekend's Area tournament, but first, they will take on No. 11 Edmond Santa Fe (13-10) at 7 p.m. in Saturday's regional final.
The Wolves won Friday's other regional semi, topping Southmoore 71-57. Friday's outcome comes as a shock for an LHS team who thought it would be playing deep into next weekend.
"We put in the work and they were prepared, but you still have to execute," Wiley said. "Now it's back to the drawing board."