Class A boys basketball: Okay, Okarche move on to OSSAA state championship game

Posted by author March 8, 2025 Basketball

Spread the love

The Oklahoma high school basketball Class A boys state tournament continued Friday with the semifinals at State Fair Arena. Here’s a look at what happened.

CLASS 2A-B SCORES & SCHEDULES: Keep up with scores, schedules for Week 1 of state tournament

SUPER 5 BOYS BASKETBALL: Who will win Player of the Year? These 20 stars make their cases

SUPER 5 GIRLS BASKETBALL: Who will win Player of the Year? These 20 stars make their cases

Pre-order book on Oklahoma HS basketball at ‘The Big House’

Chase Clark wasn’t going to be denied a trip to the Class A finals this go-around.

One year after Okay’s run as the No. 1 team ended early, Clark scored 27 points to power the Mustangs to a 67-39 win against Caddo in the semifinals Friday night at State Fair Arena.

Okay will face Okarche for the championship at 8:30 p.m. Saturday night.

Diezel Davis added 24 points for top-ranked Okay (26-4), which is one win away for its first title.

Beck Willingham scored 13 points to lead No. 2 Caddo (23-5).

—Jeff Patterson, Sports editor

Okarche was in a rare position Friday.

The Warriors are the only undefeated team in Oklahoma, and close matchups have almost never happened this season.

They entered the semifinals having played just one game that wasn’t decided by double digits but found themselves in a dog fight against Rattan in the Big House.

Jett Mueggenborg made sure Okarche’s quest for a second straight title remained alive though.

The junior scored 25 points and was key late as he helped the Class A top-ranked Warriors escape with a 56-49 win over No. 3 Rattan. They’ll play the Caddo-Okay winner at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

Overall, Mueggenborg shot 8 of 16 from the field and was 4 of 9 from 3-point range, while Hunter Mueggenborg had 12 points and Brett Carnott had 11.

“We were 100% prepared,” Jett Mueggenborg said. “We battled. We went through everything. Like all of their sets, we had everything down. … We had to go to halfcourt defense. We knew where to go. We haven’t played a lot of halfcourt defense, but this year shut them down at the end.”

Okarche (31-0) had just a two-point lead before making it 54-49 as Mueggenborg converted an and-one with 1:35 left.

That was a crucial play, and the Warriors played great defense after that to hold on.

“It was huge,” Okarche coach Aaron West said. “I think we were up two right there. One of our out-of-bounds plays was busted. We didn’t execute it correctly, and he popped open and then he pump-faked right there, got a big play and that was huge.

“But he’s been stepping up the last two or three years. That’s nothing new for him. The bigger the games, the bigger he shines.”

Rattan (27-5) started strong and led 20-13 at the end of the first quarter but Okarche responded and took a 32-31 advantage at halftime.

The teams traded blows throughout the second half, and it was neck and neck throughout the fourth quarter, but Mueggenborg’s 3-point play with 1:35 remaining gave Okarche the cushion it needed before staying in the driver’s seat and advancing.

“They’re a tough matchup,” West said. “They got three guards that can get to the paint, so they’re a defensive nightmare to try to match up for them, but down the stretch we took care of the basketball and did a great job in the last five minutes of knocking those guys down and hitting the boards.”

Canyon James and Kobe Taylor led Rattan as they finished with 19 and 14 points, respectively.

This was the third straight season Okarche and Rattan met in the state tournament.

Okarche beat Rattan 63-54 in the quarterfinals last year. Rattan defeated Okarche 75-60 in the 2023 quarterfinals.

“It’s a lot of the same teams,” Mueggenborg said. “We know what to do. We came in here and we did it.”

—Nick Sardis, Staff writer