Blue Devils Take Consolation Championship At Tri-County

The 2020 Great Plains National Bank Tri-County Basketball Tournament is now in the books, and after three days of battle on the hardwood, the Cordell Blue Devils brought home the consolation championship trophy.

Cordell’s boys got off to a bit of a rough start, drawing then-undefeated Leedey in the opening round. The Blue Devils fought a good battle, but just couldn’t get their offense in gear against the Bison, despite a 25-point effort from senior Gaige Keister.

“We ran into a really good Leedey team,” said Cordell head coach Brandon Gallagher. “We hung in there with them but just couldn’t get anything really going.”

The loss pushed the Blue Devils into the consolation bracket, where they faced off against Navajo, who fell to Mangum in the opener, in the second game.

Cordell’s offensive sluggishness continued into the first quarter against the Indians, who ran out to a 21-9 lead to open the game. But it was not to last.

The Blue Devils stormed back early in the second, with good offensive output and scrappy defense on the other side of the court. By the end of the half, Cordell’s boys had closed the gap to just four points and went into the locker room trailing 28-24.

The Blue Devils continued their fight in the third quarter, scoring the first five points to grab their first lead of the game at 29-28, which they extended to 32-28 before Navajo managed to put themselves back on the scoreboard. Cordell put it away in the fourth quarter, and ran off the court with a 61-42 victory and a berth in the championship game.

“We had a bad first quarter against Navajo but then really turned it around,” Gallagher said. “We did a great job on defense as a team getting after them. It was a good win over a quality opponent.”

Championship Saturday saw the Blue Devils facing off against local rival Hobart, who fell to Luther in the first round and knocked off Hollis to earn their spot on Saturday’s game calendar. The game was everything one would expect from rivals who had split their two previous meetings this season: intense from start to finish.

The first quarter was a solid indication of what was to come for the game, with fierce defense resulting in a low-scoring affair. At the end of the period, Cordell held on to a 9-8 lead. The second and third quarters belonged to the Bearcats, as they put up another 19 points and held Cordell to just 11.

As the fourth quarter began, Cordell trailed 27- 20, but the Blue Devils didn’t quit. They reeled off eight straight points and claimed the 28-27 lead with under four minutes left in the game. The teams battled to a 33-33 tie with under a minute to play when Brady Reimer split two free throws to give Cordell the onepoint edge. After a solid defensive stop, Hobart fouled Gaige Keister, who hit both shots to give Cordell the 36-33 edge. The Blue Devils held on with good shooting from the charity stripe to take the championship, 39-35.

“This was a great win in a rivalry-type game,” Gallagher commented. “Our kids know each other so well it’s hard to get good looks. Defense had 12 steals, we were really active.It was a grind-it-out game. I’m proud of our guys for battling all tournament. We were a little short-handed because of injury and illness and basically played five guys three games in a row. All five had big plays at one time or another to help us get two wins. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season now.”