Head coach Tyrone Lewis is getting his El Reno High School wrestlers “battle-tested” well before the push for a spot at dual state and beyond, closing out the 2019 portion of the Indians schedule at one of the nation’s toughest events.
El Reno, ranked No.7 in the Class 5A tournament team rankings, was one of 11 Oklahoma teams to travel to Missouri for the 2019 Kansas City Stampede, as the Indians placed 41st overall with 126.5 team points.
Holding a two-game losing streak and facing a 13-day layoff between games, the last thing El Reno High School’s boys basketball team wanted was to enter the holiday break with another loss.
That sense of urgency showed on the court from the opening tipoff as the Indians overcame a couple of first-period ties to post an 83-70 win over the Weatherford Eagles.
On the eye-test scale, last week’s top 10 matchup between El Reno High School’s girls basketball team and Weatherford was sloppy as the teams combined for 49 turnovers.
The difference was the Eagles, ranked No.9 in Class 4A, were able to overcome those miscues with 46 percent shooting – a mark the Indians could not duplicate.
The end result was a 52-35 win for Weatherford which remains undefeated on the season. El Reno, ranked fourth in Class 5A, slipped to 2-4 on the year with its fourth straight setback.
PIEDMONT – During the first and final four minutes of last week’s game with No.8 Piedmont, El Reno High School’s boys basketball team was literally unstoppable - outscoring the eighth-ranked Wildcats 26-8 in their top 10 showdown.
However, hiccups on both ends of the floor over the other 24 minutes left Class 5A’s ninth-ranked Indians struggling to gain their footing. Put the minutes together and the Wildcats clawed out a narrow 61-57 win over El Reno.
