Indiahoma's Christian Adair dribbles past a Leedey defender during the Class B state tournament at Southern Nazarene University on Thursday.
BETHANY — As Indiahoma boys basketball coach Zac Gipson exited the Sawyer Center on the Southern Nazarene University campus with his team on Thursday afternoon, tears filled his eyes.
Family and friends comforted the first-year coach as he tried to come to terms with what had just transpired on the court only a few minutes earlier.
The magical season that saw the Warriors finish 27-5 and qualify for the Class B tournament for the first time since 2010 ended abruptly in a 66-62 loss to No. 10 Leedey in the first round.
Gipson said though things didn’t go as planned, there are plenty of positives to take from the losing experience.
“It was a lot of sadness, obviously,” Gipson said. “But at the end of the day, there’s also a lot of joy. We got here. Our goal from the beginning was not just to get here, but to win it, but along the way, I think we accomplished more important things. They became better friends and became one big family.
“Hopefully me and the coaching staff have instilled some stuff in them that’s going to allow them to go on and be productive husbands and fathers and better sons.”
The game was tied at 45 going into the fourth quarter, with neither team showing signs of weakness. But that is when things began falling apart for Indiahoma.
The Bison (23-7) scored the first nine points of the frame to gain the largest lead of the game for either team with 5:52 remaining.
Although the deficit was manageable, the Warriors couldn’t stop Chris Goldston’s hot hand.
Goldston hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, scoring 13 of his 25 points in the process to keep Indiahoma from stealing the lead back. He had all but eight of Leedey’s points in the fourth.
The Warriors fought back with a trio of 3-balls from Chad Robinson and Jacob Tahah in the final minute, including one with 14.3 second left to cut the deficit to 65-62.
“We’re just really good shooters,” Gipson said. “I told them to be confident and keep letting them fly, and we hit some tough ones. They have no quit in them, so when those started to go down, they started getting a little more hyped up.”
Unfortunately for the Warriors, it wasn’t enough.
Indiahoma was forced to foul, and though the Bison were only 11-of-30 from the line at that point, Ty Gross sunk the most critical one with only 1.8 seconds left, sealing the win for Leedey.
Gipson said Leedey’s experience took over in the fourth quarter, and the Warriors couldn’t keep up with the intensity.
“They executed,” Gipson said. “They’ve been here before, and when we took the lead, they did not panic. They called a timeout and went on that little-bitty run, and we kind of chipped away at it and battled back and were within three with about 14 seconds left, and they executed and hit some free throws down the stretch, and that’s the name of the game.”
Robinson had 12 points, four rebounds and six assists at halftime, but he was silent for most of the second half.
The junior struggled to find open looks in the second half until his two late 3-pointers, managing only six points, three assists and two rebounds to finish with a stat line of 18-6-9.
Despite that, Gipson said he was impressed with Robinson’s positivity through the slump.
“As a shooter, you have to have a short-term memory and move on,” Gipson said. “He definitely has that, and I think he did a good job tonight of not forcing anything. That’s the reason he went on that little stall there, but he took big shots and made big shots. He’s been doing it all year, and he’s only a junior, so it’s going to be exciting having him back next year.”
Christian Adair also finished with 18 points, and Cameryn Wozniak, who fouled out with less than four minutes to play, added 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists for the Warriors.
Colton Clinesmith was close behind Goldston, finishing with 21 points for the Bison. Colton Hunter pitched in 11 points as well.
The season might be over Indiahoma, but it certainly made the most of it. Gipson said his players left everything they had on the court, and that is all he can ask of them.
“The past couple of weeks, we’ve been saying, ‘Empty your tank and give it everything you have’, and they emptied their tanks,” Gipson said. “We battled until the very end. The outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”