Two teams that harbor aspirations on breaking Roland's long-time reign as Sequoyah County champions square off in today's Armstrong Bank Sequoyah County Area Classic semifinals.
The Muldrow Bulldogs take on the Vian Wolverines at 5:30 p.m. today to highlight the four semifinal games taking place at Muldrow.
Muldrow comes in at 6-4 overall after defeating Stigler, 67-56, in its first-round tournament game on Tuesday. The Wolverines, meanwhile, enter at 8-1, with its only loss coming in overtime to 2A No. 4 ranked Talihina.
Vian, which won the Bill Frye Invitational in Mansfield this weekend, started strong in its SCAC opener Tuesday, downing Gans, 93-38. Muldrow coach Terry Collins knows the challenge which awaits his team in today's semifinals.
"Vian's a good team, they've played some stiff competition and they've won some games against that good competition, so we're going to have our hands full with them," Collins said. "We've got to be ready to come to play.
"Any team is capable of winning, so it's just going to come down to which team can put together three straight wins. We're going to try to step up to the challenge as best we can and try to win it, just like Roland and just like Vian."
As for Roland, the Rangers can move one step closer to extending their streak of Sequoyah County titles to nine straight with a win in their semifinal today. Roland takes on Central at 8:30 p.m.
The Rangers (7-2) began their SCAC play tied with Gore at 11-all before scoring the next 19 points. Roland went on to score 56 points in the first half en route to a 90-51 win.
Central (6-1) has won four straight games, the latest a 58-50 win against Sallisaw in its opening round. Dillon Cheater had 12 points and 11 rebounds in the win for the Tigers, while Jamison Brewer and Jordan Cheater added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
On the girls side, the top-seeded Muldrow Lady Bulldogs aim to repeat as county champions. They will take on the Central Lady Tigers in their semifinal at 7 p.m. today.
Muldrow, ranked No. 3 in 4A, improved to 9-1 after a 69-11 win Tuesday against Gore. Lady Bulldog coach Jana Armer will face one of her former assistants today in Central coach Dennis Wright.
"Dennis does such a great job and they'll be well prepared," Armer said. "They'll do things right and hopefully, we can do the same. I hope we'll jump out and do the same, do things right, but Dennis always does such a great job with them.
"He's got good personnel; they're fairly young, but his kids will come to play."
The Lady Tigers (5-2) defeated Vian in their opening-round game Tuesday, 43-35, behind 10 points from Gracie Henry.
In today's other SCAC girls semifinal, Roland squares off against Sallisaw.
The Lady Rangers moved to 7-2 on the season after a 67-23 win against Gans as sophomore Saylor Kemp had 30 points. Sallisaw (3-5) got a 51-50 win against Stigler on a shot from senior Kaylee Bemo with 4.3 seconds remaining.
Today's semifinal winners will move on to play for the SCAC championship in a doubleheader Saturday night at Muldrow.