Blue Devils Hoopsters Pick Up Two Big Wins

The Cordell Blue Devils may just be on the cusp of turning their season around, after picking up big wins against Carnegie and Sayre last week.

The Blue Devils started the week’s games Tuesday at home against Carnegie. Cordell’s boys started out strong, matching Carnegie shot for shot throughout the first half. As the teams went into the locker room for the halftime break, Carnegie was holding on to a slim one-point lead.

But that lead didn’t last long. The Blue Devils came out of the locker room red hot and firing on all cylinders. They poured in an incredible 28 points in the third quarter to take a 15-point lead heading into the final stanza. The fourth quarter looked a lot like the first two, with the teams trading baskets and Cordell managing to counter Carnegie’s attempts to put together a rally.

In the end, Cordell walked off their home court with an impressive 64-51 victory. The boys shot 50 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from behind the threepoint arc.

“I thought this was a real intense game,” said head coach Brandon Gallagher. “Our guys are really playing hard and being active on defense. We shot the ball pretty well, especially in the second half. We also got some turnovers that led to easy buckets.”

The Blue Devils took that momentum on the road to face the Sayre Eagles on Friday. The boys got an early jump on Sayre, scoring nine points in the first quarter while the defense held the Eagles to just three. Sayre tried to make a run in the second quarter, but Cordell’s boys matched their scoring and took a 21-17 lead into halftime.

The second half be longed to the Blue Devils. They controlled the game on offense and defense, allowing them to finally put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter and take home a 53-36 win.

“Another one of those tough games,” Gallagher said. “It was close at the half, but we finally pulled away in the fourth quarter. We also shot well from the free throw line to ice the game. I thought our defense gave them some problems. We are doing a good job of disrupting things, our kids played hard.”

The Blue Devils face Leedey in the opening round of the Great Plains Bank Tri-County Tournament in Altus this weekend. Tip-off is at 12:20 p.m. Thursday at Western Oklahoma State College.