OKLAHOMA CITY — Cason McLemore had never touched a shimmering Gold Ball before let alone kissed the basketball state championship trophy.
In the final game of the 2,000-point scorer’s career on Saturday afternoon in Jim Norick Arena, McLemore got to do both.
“I’ve never held one of these Gold Balls before,” laughed Cason McLemore, who sank seven 3-pointers — five of which came in the first quarter — and scored 25 points to lead Cyril to the Class A state championship — it’s first state title since 1938 — in a thrilling 57-52 revenge win over rival Fort Cobb-Broxton at the State Fairgrounds.
“It means everything. Cyril is my favorite place to be,” McLemore said after his final game in the Big House. “My dad (Cyril coach Shane McLemore) graduated from here. I wouldn’t want to win this state championship any place else. And with a win over our rival as a senior, it can’t get much better than that.”
Trailing 53-50 with 40 seconds remaining, Fort Cobb (24-8) had one chance to tie the game but air-balled a 3-pointer while Cyril (26-4) iced the game with free throws. Fort Cobb guard Kellen Hines, who scored 16 points after his 35-point semifinal outing, made a quick cut to the hoop to trim the deficit back to three, 55-52 with 18 seconds left.
Needing a stop, the Mustangs pressed all five on the ensuing inbounds only to helplessly watch a home run pass sail down the court and into the arms of the streaking senior Albert Suarez, who scored 11 points and made the emphatic, game-sealing layup with 16 seconds left to seal the 57-52 victory.
“I knew it was going to be open, I just had to be extra careful,” said Albert Suarez, who sent the Pirate faithful into a resounding uproar, sensing the title was seconds away. “It was a spot-on pass.”
Fort Cobb held a one-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, but Ryan Hart hit the biggest shot of the game as the Cyril freshman sharpshooter, who hit three 3-pointers in the second half — splashed home a hesitation triple in the corner to give the Pirates a 52-50 lead with 3:30 remaining.
“Since it was fourth quarter and I was open, I had to shoot it,” Hart said. “I hesitated just a bit with them running at me, but I just kept shooting.”
Cyril played stall ball, milking the clock from the 3:15 mark to under a minute left, when Fort Cobb finally had no chance but to foul, knowing the five-peat was slipping away.
“I talked to the young guys that there are lessons we can learn from this. We lost our discipline down the stretch a bit on both ends of the court,” Fort Cobb coach Scott Hines said after the Pirates scored 17 points off turnovers. “We take pride in being the most disciplined team in the fourth quarter and we weren’t today. Cyril was and deserved to win.”
Cyril shot 55 percent from downtown and 54 percent from the field while foiling Fort Cobb’s bid of a fifth straight championship, a feat only one basketball team in state history, Douglass, has accomplished.
“We knew we could stop the five-peat,” said Hart, who scored all nine of his points from downtown in the second half. “That’s what we were going for this whole season.”
After falling short in the 2018 Caddo County championship, the 2018 state semifinals — a heartbreaking 50-49 loss on this very court exactly a year ago — and the Area championship last weekend, Cyril kept believing it could finally take down Goliath of Class A.
“It’s crazy for Fort Cobb to take it from us every year. Being on top is unbelievable,” said Cyril point guard Jakobie Kaesemeyer, who chipped in six points and made a pair of crucial free throws with less than 30 seconds left to push the Cyril lead to 55-50. “I’ve dreamt of being a state champion. I knew we could come in here and win. I’m speechless right now.”
Waiting a year while working hard in silence may have been the biggest blessing for the Pirates.
“The guys have been determined all year after getting beat by one point in that semifinal. They talked it out and stayed in the weight room,” Cyril coach Shane McLemore said. “We got stronger and more physical. This group of kids has a drive, and they’re competitors.”
The title game got off to a blazing start as McLemore and Kyler Denton, who scored 13 points for Fort Cobb, swapped a pair of treys apiece in the first quarter to tie the game at 8-8.
But McLemore’s hot hand made sure the ball found the bottom of the net nearly every time. McLemore shot 9 of 17 from the floor and an eye-popping 7 of 11 from downtown while scoring 15 points in the first quarter — all from behind the arc — which pushed Cyril to a 17-10 lead heading to the second before the senior eight more points, courtesy of a pair of triples, in the third quarter while terrorizing Mustang defenders.
“If Cason and Kellen are hitting their 3, they are really hard to guard. If you crowd Cason too much you’re just going to invite him in the lane,” coach Hines said. “That’s what’s so tough about Cyril — they can put five guys out there who can shoot the 3 and all put it on the floor. If you get out and crowd them, they can isolate you and fly by. You gotta get some help, but if you overhelp, you get stung because they got a shooter on an island.”
Fort Cobb, which shot 51 percent from the field, had a strong second quarter surge and took a lead on a Denton corner-pocket 3-ball to give the Mustangs a 25-23 lead. Denton turned around to the ecstatic Mustang faithful while holding his shooting form firmly in the air. Mustang big man Trey Abbott, who sank two 3s and scored seven of his 10 points in the second quarter, stunned the Cyril defense by canning an opposite corner 3-pointer shortly before half while lifting up his hands to pump up the crowd.
But Cyril answered right back as Suarez drilled a pair of 3-pointers right before half. Suarez’s second triple came from the corner where he was desperately calling for the ball in the closing seconds. The second it arrived in his hands, Suarez released it and rattled it home at the buzzer to trim the Mustang lead to a point, 32-31 at the break.
One of McLemore’s most impressive 3-pointer was his final one of the game, which came in the third quarter as he curled off a screen on an inbounds pass. McLemore found a soft spot on the baseline corner and swished it to put Cyril in front 39-36.
The most dramatic part of the game came during what appeared to be the least suspenseful sequence.
Late in the third quarter — after Hart had drained a pair of consecutive 3-pointers on opposite wings to give Cyril a 47-43 lead with 2:40 to play — the Pirates decided to dig into their infatuation with stall ball while nursing a four-point lead.
Hines was content with Cyril dribbling for more than two minutes at half court, knowing the Mustangs could get a stop.
They did.
A rushed missed 3-pointer from McLemore with five seconds left was corralled by Tyson Eastwood, who chipped in 10 points and flung a beautiful outlet pass up the court to Brennan Phy.
With a man in his face, Phy canned the acrobatic, NBA-range 3-pointer as the third quarter buzzer sounded to trim Cyril’s lead to 47-46 entering the fourth quarter. Phy watched it go in just feet away from coach Hines, who greeted him with a smile and a fist-pump, knowing the Mustangs were back in business.
McLemore sensed trouble.
“I thought surely luck is not going to turn Fort Cobb’s way again,” coach McLemore said while shaking his head. “But the boys stayed motivated and fought right back.”
Kellen Hines made the opening bucket off the fourth quarter which he kissed off the glass to give Fort Cobb a 48-47 lead, but the rivals fell into a scoring slump until Hart’s dagger 3-pointer.
For Cyril coach Shane McLemore — who has coached seven state tournament teams for the Pirates in the past four seasons — the weekend couldn’t have been scripted in a more Hollywood fashion. After coaching his daughter, Lexie, and the Lady Pirates in the quarterfinals, and his son, Cason to a state championship, Shane was smiling from ear to ear.
“This has been an unbelievable seeing getting to coach my daughter and my son in the state tournament,” coach McLemore said. “To cap it off with a win today makes it even more special.”