Jackets ‘Easley’ ‘Cash’ in on opportunities at Chisholm

Kingfisher either defended better or shot it better than Chisholm last Friday night.

Truth is, it was a combination of both as the Jackets won their second straight to open the season in an 80-62 road victory over the Longhorns.

KHS made 61 percent of its shots and held its hosts to 40 percent shooting while also creating 16 turnovers.

The result was an 18-point halftime lead and the ability to pull away in the fourth quarter while holding Chisholm to 24 fewer points than it had in its own season opener three days prior.

The game also served as an arrival of sorts for some of the team’s newcomers, namely Michael Easley.

The senior forward scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half and most of them after the Jackets saw a 19-point lead shrunk down to 10.

The 19-point lead was at 4:29 of the third quarter, but Chisholm came out of a timeout ready to make one last run.

That culminated at the 2:17 mark of the third when Tayden Hamilton’s 3-pointer brought the home team within 46-36.

The Jackets got their lead back to 14 entering the fourth.

In the fourth, it was Easley and Cash Laird doing a bulk of the damage as the Jackets put the game away.

Easley scored nine points, including making 3 of 4 free throws down the stretch.

Laird poured in 11 in the quarter, including a 3-pointer at 4:31 to cap a 19-5 run.

That was the only trey of the game for the Jackets, who scored 60 points in the paint.

Only eight of those came in transition as Kingfisher’s offense continually led to bumps off the glass.

Laird had his fair share. Also a senior, he had 13 points in the first half as the Jackets steadily built up a 3820 advantage.

While he “only” had one steal, Laird did have five deflections, but his smothering presence was more than enough to frustrate the Longhorns, enough so to even draw a frustration foul from Cooper Westfahl away from the action.

Laird is in his second year starting for the Jackets, as is Hayes White, who notched 12 points in the first half.

White eventually finished with 16.

The Jackets also got eight points from another new face in the first half, Arik Luke.

His points also came in the paint and ended his night with 10 points and a teamhigh seven rebounds.

Laird led all scorers with 26 points.

Chisholm was coming off an 86-82 win at Cashion. The Longhorns were led by Teshon Medlock’s 15 points while Westfahl ended up with 14.