Dover ‘D’ locks up defending champs

In a game with more subplots than you could imagine for an entire season, the Dover Longhorns left Earlsboro with an area championship and are within a win of their first appearance in the state tournament in more than 30 years.

Eighth-ranked Dover knocked off No. 9 Wilson (Henryetta) 36-25 to win a Class B regional championship and advance to this week’s area title game.

On the surface, the score and result are like many other this season for the Longhorns, who improved to 25-2 and - fittingly - give up an average of about 25 points a game.

But this game went well below the surface.

For starters, Wilson is the defending state champion and returned all but one player from last year’s 30-2 title team.

That includes four Shelburn brothers who played big roles in that run to the Class B crown.

Wilson’s record isn’t as shiny this season, though none of the previous six losses were to a Class B team. Three of those losses came against bigger schools at the Tournament of Champions in late December.

Adding to the mix over the last several weeks has been the fact two of Wilson’s key players have been playing with ankle monitors for a number of games.

That fact has stirred much controversy statewide as to the morality of the players being allowed to continue to compete despite continuing to be under investigation for a serious crime.

The OSSAA said there was no specific rule that would keep the players off the court due to their current legal status and said it should be dealt with on a local level.

That, too, caused some division at Wilson’s local level, but the Shelburns were eventually cleared to continue playing for the Tigers.

There is one caveat. The two have a court-ordered curfew and that played a major role in Monday night’s outcome.

Although they combined for just five points, sophomores Zion Shelburn and Za’Brien Shelburn were still major factors on defense and had their team leading 21-17 at halftime.

Dover got almost all of its production from Jonah Pendergraft, who scored 13 of his team’s points in that first half.

But the clock was striking midnight as far as the players’ curfew was concerned and they had to leave before the second half.

That proved their value. Wilson didn’t score in the third quarter.

The Tigers also didn’t score for the first 7:30 of the fourth quarter.

Dover managed to claim a 25-21 lead by the end of the third as Casen Buck and Lucas Conrady combined for six points.

The lead continued to grow in the fourth as the Tigers kept missing and Dover kept chewing up the clock.

Pendergraft scored six more in the fourth and led all scorers with 21.

Buck finished with six and Conrady five.

The Tigers didn’t score in the second half until the game was more than decided in its final 30 seconds.

They were led by Ke’Shon Shelburn’s eight points, all of them came in the first half.

Same goes for Charles Shelburn, who scored his five points in the second quarter.

The defending champs may have been sidetracked, but the road doesn’t get easier for the Longhorns.

They’ll take on No. 2 Varnum, which is also 252, at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Seminole.

The winner advances to state while the loser will play again Saturday for the area consolation title and one more crack at the state tournament.

Lady Longhorns Advance to Area

It’s back to the area tournament for the Dover Lady Longhorns.

With elimination staring at them, Dover won a pair of games over three days to advance in the Class B playoffs.

The second of those wins came Monday afternoon when they downed Strother 42-34 in a regional consolation championship at Earlsboro.

They were knocked into the consolation bracket last Friday when third-ranked Lookeba-Sickles knocked them off 65-31 in Dover.

The Lady Longhorns hit the long road to Earlsboro on Saturday and kept their season alive with a convincing 48-29 victory.

That set up a rematch with Strother, which Dover beat by just three points in the previous weekend’s district championship.

Dover managed to jump to a 9-0 lead against Strother, but Brooklyn Turner led her team right back with three straight 3-pointers.

Turner made five of them in the first half and accounted for all but two of her team’s points.

Dover took a three-point lead at the break as Ashley Gamez countered with three 3-pointers of her own and Joi Caldwell chipped in six more points.

Dover opened up a 3425 lead in the third quarter when Gamez buried her fourth trey of the game, this one with 1:30 left in the frame.

It was a seven-point lead going into the fourth and then Madison Goodwin’s bucket gave the Lady Longhorns a 38-27 advantage with 6:55 left.

Dover only scored two more points over the next 6:45, but Strother only got as close as six points as the Lady Longhorns held the Lady Yellowjackets scoreless over the final 2:05.

Gamez and Caldwell led Dover with 13 points apiece.

Rylee Buck and Goodwin each scored seven as the team improved to 20-9.

Dover opens the area tournament at 6 p.m. Thursday against Varnum in Seminole.