Coming into the holiday invitational, the Midwest City Bombers (4-0) had yet to take a loss coming off two wins in the Winter Snow Jam in Wisconsin. The Bombers remained undefeated taking out Enid, Bixby and Mustang on their way to the tourney crown.

The Bombers survived poor shooting early from the 3-point line to tie the game at 17 after the first quarter.

Then the Bomber defense, led by Bombers, forward Caleb Corprew’s three first half blocks, turned up their intensity in the second quarter on a 14-0 run. Enid didn’t score a second quarter basket until the 2:30 mark. The Bombers also forced 8 turnovers as they held Enid to 5 points to take a 35-22 lead.

The Bombers never looked back as Corprew continued to showcase all of his tools with 9 fourth quarter points ending his night with 15 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks.

“[Corprew] was our most improved player last year,” said Midwest City Head Coach Dewayne Bradley. “He just started getting his confidence on offense that he can be a scorer. He’s giving us a third guy to score.”

Next, Corprew and the Bombers would have to take on OSU commit Mitchel Solomon and the Bixby Spartans in day two of the action.

The first half saw Solomon get the best of the matchup with seven of his 16 points, but Bombers senior standout Torey Noel entered the fray with 13 points off his own to help the Bombers maintain a 29-22 lead.

Corprew and Solomon dueled in the third quarter. Solomon added 7 more points with Corprew matching him and raising him one with 8 points. Still, the Bombers held a 47-38 lead.

Finally, the Bombers gritted out the victory holding Solomon scoreless in the final stanza and taking a 57-51 win to setup a matchup with the Mustang Broncos on the final day of the tournament for all the marbles.

“Coming off the tournament from last week, I thought we came out a little flat in both games,” said Bradley of surviving two poor starts. “But we did enough to win.”

The Bombers poor shooting reared its ugly head again to start the game against the Broncos going 0-5 from downtown. Still, Noel and Corprew, as they had all tournament, kept the Bombers around scoring 4 each to hold the Mustang lead down to 13-10 at the end of the first.

Midwest City senior guard Kesean Brown had been uncharacteristically quiet offensively through the first two games and a quarter of basketball. Brown finally broke free against Mustang. After a scoreless first quarter, he added 11 points in the second and third combined with Noel’s 13 points to give Midwest City a slight 41-36 advantage.

The final quarter of the tournament saw fireworks erupt. Coach Bradley got a mysterious technical to cut the Midwest City lead in half at 48-46. After Mustang tied the game, it was Brown erupting with a layup and the foul but he couldn’t connect on the free-throw.

Midwest City finally sealed the game off from the line after botching a layup and giving Mustang one last chance to tie. The Bombers won the Mid-Del Holiday Invitational, 63-60.

Noel was named the Most Valuable Player after adding 19 points, 3 rebounds and an assist to his tournament resume. Corprew took home an All-Tournament selection with 8 points, 10 rebounds and a block in the final game. Noel busted out of his tournament “slump” 19 points and nine rebounds of his own.

“[Brown and Noel] help us stay calm and it’s huge for us,” said Bradley of his two senior guards play.

Midwest City’s next matchup will be this Saturday, Jan. 4 at home against Del City.