Midwest City boys roll to decisive win against Norman North for Putnam City Invitational title
OKLAHOMA CITY - Roy Henderson had a message to send out.
The Midwest City senior wanted to make sure his Bombers were no longer a hidden secret in Oklahoma anymore.
But he may not have to worry about that anymore after the Bombers rolled to the Putnam City Invitational title over the weekend. It culminated Saturday night with a convincing 51-37 victory over Norman North at Putnam City High.
That included an emphatic dunk as the buzzer sounded just to put an exclamation point on the entire weekend.
“We are good enough to win state,” Henderson said. "We are a state-contending team. We are going to win state, actually.”
Henderson, who was named MVP of the tournament, scored a team-high 15 points in the victory. Carlsheon Young added 12 points.
Norman North was led by Luke Bauman, who scored 12 points.
Oklahoma high school boys basketball Top 25 rankings (1/3/2024)
With 4:54 left in the game, Midwest City took a 40-31 lead. On the ensuing possession, North’s Drew Morris drained a 3-pointer to cut the lead down to six, 40-34.
But the Bombers' Mark Jackson hit a long jumper to push the advantage back to eight points. After the Timberwolves came up empty on their next possession, Young made a scooping layup to give the Bombers a 10-point advantage.
North’s Tracey Leslie was fouled and made 1-of-2 free-throw attempts from the line with 2:50 left on the clock. However, Mason McKenzie completed an old-fashioned three-point play on the other end.
Midwest City players (in black) heavily guard a Norman North player during the championship game of the Putnam City Invitational tournament on Jan. 6, 2023.
The Timberwolves then turned the ball over and McKenzie was fouled again. He drained both free throws to put MWC up 49-35 with 1:50 left in the contest.
That was enough to put the contest away as the Bombers claimed the tournament championship.
“The key was playing together and making shots,” Henderson said. “We weren’t making shots in the first and we came out (in the second half) and made shots.”
Just to get to the title game, Midwest City (8-2) had to go through a gauntlet of 6A squads. They started the tournament off by knocking off Putnam City West in the opening round Thursday; then took out Tulsa Union in the semifinals.
The Redhawks gave the Bombers their toughest matchup and they had to hold on for a one-point victory, handing Union their second defeat of the season.
With three straight wins over solid 6A teams, the Bombers believe they are in good shape moving forward through the rest of the season.
“They were tough, but we’re tougher,” Henderson said. “We moved down to 5A and they tried to put us down. But we came back and beat all the 6A good teams.”
-- Michael Kinney | @SBLiveOK
