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By: The Blue Bird Insider
December 14, in the state of Oklahoma, will forever officially be known as Matt Holiday Day. The announcement was made in Stillwater’s high school gym before the Bluejays took on the Stillwater Pioneers. Unfortunately, Matt Holiday’s first holiday was marred by a loss for his alma mater.
Guthrie finally opened their season against a Stillwater team that already this season defeated an extremely hot Enid team, lost to the No. 3 team in Class 6A's Jenks Trojans by six points, and the Pioneers has one of the best players in 6A in senior Jamell Cromier.
All three of these points weighed heavy on head coach Pete Papahronis mind. In the pre-game speech he emphasized how good they were and noted that, “If we play the way we know can, we can win this game.” He made this statement cautiously however, knowing that his team had only a few rusty practices under their belt.
Early in the first quarter it seemed that Papahronis fears turned into a reality when Stillwater came out hitting on all cylinders. Two minutes into the game, Stillwater had a 9-2 lead and looked to set sail. However, Donte’ Foster introduced himself by hitting two back to back three-pointers to draw the Bluejays back in the game.
With two minutes left in the second quarter, Foster and their best defender, Clayton Smith, got in foul trouble with Stillwater leading. Luckily, the Stillwater coaching staff decided to stall the game which played directly into the Bluejays hands.
“That’s what we wanted them to do,” Papahronis said. “We did not want to chance anymore fouls, plus we are out of shape, they did us a favor by stalling.”
During the pre-game, assistant coach Doug Russell said it best when he stated, “It’s snowing outside, lets make it rain in here.” Rain in Stillwater’s Field House is exactly what the Bluejays did by making 25 of 30 free throws and only missed two in the fourth quarter en route to their 71-64 win.
As a side note, for those who can believe it and for the one who refused to, Guthrie went eleven players deep in this game.
Impact players of the game
Matt Hamilton- Hamilton was up against a taller, stronger competitor and held his own. Hamilton, also did a great job being a vocal leader on the court by getting the team into their offensive sets when everyone seemed to be confused at times.
Kentrell Brothers- This freshman is going to fun to watch. He has no fear about getting in the paint and grabbing rebounds. There was a couple times that his rebounds and put backs kept the game out of Stillwater’s grasp plus he did not miss a free throw the entire game.