Woodward’s Gaines equals KHS boys’ loss in rematch

The Woodward Boomers continued their trend as one of the hottest teams in Class 4A and Kadon Gaines once again showed he’s one of the top freshmen in the state.

Unfortunately, it came at the expense of the Kingfisher Yellowjackets.

In their final regular season home game, the Jackets were downed 73-62.

It was the Boomers’ 12th straight win as they improved to 16-4.

Two of those victories have come against KHS as the other was a 65-56 decision Jan. 25 in the finals of the Buckle of the Wheatbelt Invitational.

The games were similar in that Woodward built a double- digit lead and threatened to run away with it, but the Jackets kept scrapping to keep within striking distance.

Both times, however, they couldn’t quite catch up.

Gaines did his part. The6-foot-6swingmanscored 18 first-half points - including four 3-pointers - as his team took a 44-34 lead at the break.

He then got back-to-back dunks for the Boomers as they pushed their lead to 15 points in the third quarter.

The Jackets wouldn’t go away, however.

They got it back to 13 entering the fourth and continued to claw at their deficit.

Hayes White scored 10 points in the fourth and Cash Laird six more as Kingfisher cut it to single digits.

But Woodward had enough answers to keep the Jackets from closing in further.

Gaines, Connor Sunderland and Isaiah Washington all scored in the paint in the fourth quarter and eventually were only out- scored 17-15 over the final eight minutes.

Gaines finished with 28 points and 11 rebounds.

Washington scored 16 off the bench and Gage Hutchens scored 17.

White notched 28 points for the Jackets - 14 in each half.

Laird scored eight of his 10 points in the second half.

Jhett Birdwell made three 3-pointers as part of his 10 points while Jackson Willbanks scored seven.

Kingfisher dropped to 13-9 with the loss.