Blue Devils Split Home And Away Games

The Cordell Blue Devils dropped a tough game at home against the Tigers of Mangum last Tuesday, but bounced back in strong form to clip the wings of the Burns Flat-Dill City Eagles in their house on Friday.

The Devils opened strong against Mangum, running out to a 13-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. The boys continued their strong play in the second, but ran into a snag when Gaige Keister was forced to leave the game with a bloody nose. In his absence, the Tigers put together a run and were threatening to take the lead when Bode Gallagher picked up his third and fourth fouls in rapid succession, which put him on the bench. As the first half ended, Mangum had claimed a two-point lead.

With both Gallagher and Keister on the bench in the third period, Mangum outscored the Blue Devils 18-10, giving them a 10-point edge going into the fourth. Despite strong play from other players, including reserves Blaine Larsen and Dawson Willard, who each contributed five points, the Blue Devils were unable to overcome the deficit and fell 59-46.

“This was a hard-fought game,” said head coach Brandon Gallagher. We were playing really well most of the first half. We were up by nine when Gaige had to come out with a bloody nose, then we got in a little foul trouble and they went on a run. We stopped the bleeding, so to speak, as we trailed at the half. We stayed in the game, but they gapped it out to about 10. We couldn’t get closer than four. I thought we played really hard, but had some bad turnovers and possessions.

The Cordell boys traveled to nearby rival Burns Flat-Dill City for a showdown with the Eagles Friday evening. The teams fought a pretty even first quarter, with Cordell’s boys taking a slight fourpoint advantage by the end of the period. In the second quarter, however, the Blue Devils found their stride and pushed the Eagles back on their heels, running up an 11-point lead before halftime.

Cordell kept the momentum going after the half and dominated the third period of play. Good ball movement and crisp passing created great shooting and scoring opportunities for the Blue Devils, and they managed to run the lead up to 21 heading into the fourth quarter. The cushion gave Gallagher room to use some of his bench late in the game, and the Blue Devils coasted to a 74-60 win.

“We obviously shot the ball really well and had good balance, which is really good,” Gallagher said. “They did some things to try and take away Gaige, but our other guys really stepped up. We are playing pretty well for the last month. We need to keep it up and keep improving as we get down to this stretch run.”