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By: Chris Evans and GHS Coaching Staff
The Guthrie Bluejays remained perfect on their young season, but got a scared from fifth ranked Southeast in the opening round of the Ardmore Tournament, Thursday afternoon.
Guthrie (2-0) will play the host team, Ardmore, Friday night for the right to play in the Ardmore Holiday Festival's championship game on Saturday. Ardmore defeated McKinney (Texas) Boyd 68-58, in the nightcap on Thursday evening, to advance.
Guthrie's junior guard Donte' Foster led the way in a 72-69 overtime victory over the Spartans with 25 points to help his double double effort. Southeast (4-1) suffered their first loss of the year and are currently ranked No.5 in Class 4A.
"It was a good win against a good, quality opponent," head coach Pete Papahronis said.
Guthrie jumped out to a 18-16 first quarter lead and went into the half on top 38-31. However, the Spartans would open the third quarter with a 6-0 run to pull within one and would then outscore the 'Jays 19-16 in the quarter.
Southeast then outscored Guthrie in the fourth quarter, 15-11, to send the game into overtime. Senior Kent McDonald's last second lay-up fell short to send the game into the extra frame
"We are still not executing. I believe that our conditioning is the main reason for that, but our rebounding and intensity was impressive. We are glad for the win against a good team while not firing on all eight cylinders," Papahronis added.
McDonald finished the contest with 14 points while fellow senior teammate Jonathan Washington added 16.
The match-up between 'Jays and Tigers will be No.4 and No. 8 in Class 5A, respectively. Ardmore's Trae Jones led all scorers with 28 points, while Cody Nall and Dominique Godwin each had 10 points for the Tigers in the win over McKinney.