Semifinals should be interesting

After two days and nights filled with basketball, the semifinals are set for the 2012 LeFlore County Tournament.

And while some questioned the early seeding, the top four seeds in both divisions advanced to the semifinals, which will be played Thursday and Friday.

Two good runs for county teams ended Tuesday as the reign of the Heavener girls and Talihina boys ended after both teams had captured the prior two LCT championships.

So far, I have watched two-and-a-half games both nights. There have been good games and some that were not all that good.

Action now moves strictly to Bokoshe and Spiro for the final four days with the host Bokoshe closing down its gym after Wednesday.

There really haven’t been many surprises in the tournament so far. Arkoma’s girls, an 11th seed, defeated the sixth-seeded Wister girls, but the Lady Mustangs had already defeated the Lady Wildcats once this year, so that really can’t be considered an upset.

Also, Talihina’s boys (seeded 10th) knocked off seventh-seeded LeFlore, but that was a toss-up as the Tigers are starting to play much better after having to replace all their starters from a year ago.

Spiro’s boys and girls both dodged big bullets Tuesday. The top-seeded Bulldogs trailed most of the game before Devon Perry scored with six seconds left to give Spiro a 50-48 win over Howe.

The second-seeded Spiro girls also needed two free throws by Kanisha Hutchinson in the final seconds to edge Poteau, 45-44.

The semifinals should be interesting. On Thursday, the girls play their semifinals with Howe taking on Bokoshe at 7 p.m. and Spiro and Talihina playing at 8:30 p.m.

Howe will be favored to down Bokoshe, which overcame the loss of one of its best players to reach the semifinals for the second straight year after the 43-39 win over Heavener Tuesday. The two teams played last week at Bokoshe with Howe winning easily.

The second game will be even more interesting as Talihina and Spiro hook up. Both teams are athletic and like to run so there should be plenty of scoring. Talihina must overcome Spiro’s big girls if the Lady Tigers hope to win.

The boys take over action on Friday with Heavener and Poteau playing at 7 p.m. followed by Wister and Spiro hooking up at 8:30 p.m.

Poteau boasts wins over Heavener and Spiro already this season with both wins coming at home. The Pirates’ matchup zone caused problems for both opponents in those games, along with Talihina on Tuesday in a rematch of last year’s finals.

The Wolves boast height and good outside shooting, but were blown out in the earlier meeting. The Wister and Spiro game should also be a good one.

Wister boasts a pair of excellent scorers in Cody Luman and Tyler Gibson. The Wildcats will have an edge in height, but Wister will have to handle Spiro’s press and speed.