MacArthur's Victoria Lewis positions for a shot against Ardmore on Friday night.
Although it was Senior Night, the MacArthur basketball teams will want to erase Friday night from their memory banks as the playoffs loom.
The Highlanders left their gym with a pair of humbling defeats, as the girls fell 55-30 to Class 4A No. 5 Ardmore, and the boys experienced a similar result in a 72-49 loss to the No. 2 Tigers.
Mac will try to bounce back Tuesday in the penultimate regular season finale against city rival Eisenhower, but it won't be easy. The Ike squads are a combined 4-0 this season against the Highlanders, outscoring Mac 302-210 in the process.
Ardmore crushes Mac girls
Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Mac girls.
The Highlanders (13-6) committed multiple miscues throughout the contest, and whenever they seemed to improve in one category, struggles presented themselves in other areas. As a result, Ardmore (18-2) cruised to a 25-point win, 55-30.
Mac now holds a 1-5 record against Top 10 teams this season, the only victory coming against 5A No. 10 Piedmont in overtime on Jan. 23.
"At halftime, I told them these are teams we know we need to play better against," Highlanders coach David Vann said. "We haven't played well against Top 5, Top 10 teams. I'm not worried yet because what you saw tonight was we had some letdown and we weren't ourselves. Once we get in the tournament, I think girls will have that mindset of 'We have to win', and I have plenty of confidence in my girls."
Mac scored the first basket of the game, but that would be the only lead it acquired, for the mistakes began piling up shortly after. A flurry of fouls and turnovers plagued the Highlanders in the first half, allowing the Tigers to secure a 12-point lead at the break.
Mac committed 12 turnovers in the first two frames, and Ardmore outshot Vann's squad at the free-throw line, 21-6. Moreover, six of the Tigers' 12 points in the second quarter came from the line.
Mac gave up only four turnovers and 10 free throws in the second half, but that is also when it developed scoring troubles. The Highlanders held Ardmore to 23 points in the third and fourth quarters, but they managed only 10 themselves.
Vann said it was a frustrating night because his team couldn't get out of its own way.
"I'm not sure what it is, but we cannot have a good game back-to-back," Vann said. "We were within striking distance, but we just could not find it. There were a lot things wrong, but this is a game we need to put behind us and move forward because we have something to look forward to."
McKenzie Washington led Mac with 11 points, and Sierra Gordon led the Tigers with 21.
Ardmore scorches Mac boys' defense
MacArthur's Sep Reese attempts a pass while falling out of bounds in a battle against Ardmore.
Trailing 42-32 at halftime, Mac was well within striking distance of a comeback, but things didn't work according to plan.
Behind four double-digit finishers, Ardmore took advantage of the Highlanders' inability to score in the second half on the way to a 23-point win, 72-49. Mac has surrendered 70 or more points in four of its past five contests.
"We just didn't get stops," Gagliardi said. "We have trouble scoring the ball a lot of games, and we can't give up 75 or 80 points every single game. I know I say that all the time, but at some point we need to shut the faucet off — we have to be able to get stops, and we have to be able to get rebounds. We have to be able to impose our will defensively, but we haven't done that in the past eight or 10 games."
The Tigers' center Berto Sanchez gave the Highlanders the most problems defensively.
Sanchez finished with 21 points, 20 of which came in the paint. He was also disruptive on the other side of the ball, preventing the Highlanders from getting to rim and forcing them to rely on jumpshots.
"We didn't stick to our gameplan," Gagliardi said. "We had a gameplan coming in, and our posters just didn't do it. We had a specific way to guard him and where to double him and how to do it, but we just didn't execute. He's a good player, but we didn't execute our gameplan the way we needed to."
Sep Reese led Mac with 15 points, while Ardmore's Braeden Vance, Jamal Clark and Quintarrus Cohee joined Sanchez in the double figures category, combining for 40 points.