An otherwise great tournament showing ended in heartbreak for the Carl Albert boys’ basketball team over the weekend after taking second in the Titan Classic.
It’s been up and down for the Titans since losing half of their star post duo. Carl Albert had already split two games with forward Hayden Howell out. Now, Howell would miss three more games with the same ankle injury causing a reshuffling back to old philosophies of more guard oriented play with headman Jay Price.
However, they still had the other half Cameron Warren, 3-point ace Wes Smith and gritty tough guards as the No. 2 team in 5A trudged their way into the Carl Albert Titan Classic off a loss to Harrah.
Carl Albert’s offense saw guard Riley Cabral inserted to replace Howell to space the floor with shooters around Warren.
Cabral was not bashful, immediately going to work to try to spark an offense that Price described as lost and sluggish with his team in an early timeout.
“I didn’t think we came out with a lot of energy and fire. I told them in the locker room, ‘You got the whole student body out here. These guys have traveled all the way from Missouri and they’ve got to be dead and we ought to jump on them early and get after them,’” said Price.
Cabral had 13 points in the first half against the Branson Pirates to lead Carl Albert to a 27-25 lead.
The offense finally picked up the intensity and execution in the third quarter as Warren started to get in a groove. Warren poured in 14 points in the quarter to compliment a defense that forced 7 turnovers.
“I think that was the difference. We tipped some balls and we talk about that a lot to try to get a tip or touch so we can pick it up and take it to the other end,” said Price on forcing more turnovers.
The Titans extended their lead and the Pirates never challenged again losing 63-46.
Warren led Carl Albert with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Cabral wasn’t too far behind with 17 points, 3 rebound and 2 steals.
Day Two
Friday, Carl Albert would hit another slow start against the Bartlesville Bruins, ranked 17th in 6A.
The Titans were fortunate the Bruins lead was only 9-2 early in the first after the Bruins missed several layups.
Carl Albert would fight back to even with Bartlesville by the end of the quarter. The Bruins made just two shots in the quarter due more to their own misfires than the Carl Albert defense.
The Titans found their intensity a bit earlier this game as Warren took over the end of the second quarter and the defense turned it up a notch.
“Our intensity was much better in the second quarter and on. I thought we really defended well until late in the game,” said Price.
The Bruins needed 3 minutes at one point to score a single basket while Warren scored 10 points in the quarter to give Carl Albert a 25-17 lead at halftime.
An offensive drought plagued the Titans in the third narrowly holding on to a 2-point lead. They started off shooting 0-7 with 2 turnovers but a couple of late baskets extended the lead back to 6 points headed into the fourth.
“I didn’t have a problem with the shots we missed necessarily because we were getting good shots. It was just turnovers. We just gave them two easy layup baskets and that’s the kind of stuff that we have to fix,” said Price.
Deep in the fourth, the coach would plead with his team to kill the clock with ball movement until a layup or free throws came out of the possession. Instead, Carl Albert turned the ball over 3 straight times.
Meanwhile, Bartlesville guard Antonio Castillo scored 8 straight points to bring the Bruins within 2 points with 1:02 left in the game.
Finally, Price got the possession he was looking for as Carl Albert ran the clock down to 13 seconds ending with Warren putting in 2 free throws to seal the game.
After a missed Bruins’ 3-pointer and two more free throws, Carl Albert would head into the Titan Classic finals with a score of 48-42.
Warren had a monster night with 26 points and 17 rebounds. The defense also was strong shutting down Nick Shoemaker, who was held to 5 points after dropping 32 the night before on Star Spencer.
Day Three
The No. 1 team in 2A awaited Carl Albert in the championship matchup.
The Millwood Falcons would pose some major matchup nightmares against Carl Albert minus Howell, but the Titans came out tough against “The Wood.”
A 10-0 Carl Albert start looked as if it might allow the Titans to run away and hide.
However, Millwood would knock down 3 straight triples to narrow the gap right back down to 1.
The second quarter would continue the trend that ended the first quarter. Despite, Warren’s great shooting and ability to get to the line; Carl Albert was going whole possessions without Warren getting a touch.
Carl Albert maintained a 3-point lead heading into the half, but the lead could have been much bigger. Something the Titans would pay for in the end.
The Falcons wasted no time erasing their halftime deficit. A quick 10-run by the Falcons saw Carl Albert down 7 in the blink of an eye.
Warren wouldn’t let his team stray too far away throwing in 13 points in the quarter to keep the Millwood lead at a manageable 5 points headed into the final quarter.
It would be a back and forth affair in the fourth until Carl Albert foul trouble took its tool. Two starters, Wes Smith and Chantz Woodberry, and a key reserve in Darren Dobbins fouled out in succession.
“[Chantz fouling out] probably hurt us more than anything because if he’s on the floor we don’t make some of the mistakes we did,” said Price.
Although, the lead was still only at 1 for Millwood; Carl Albert no longer had the spacing to allow Warren to take over as he had all game.
Gritty plays by guard Steven Gordon and Cabral almost tipped the scales back in Carl Albert favors but after back to back open 3-point misses by Cabral, the Titans couldn’t recover.
Millwood won the Titan Classic over Carl Albert 57-52.
“You can’t be satisfied with that after coming that close to winning the tournament and you should have the tournament. Honestly if you ask me last week are you happy with winning two tournament games without Hayden I’d say yeah I’m happy with that,” said Price.
Coach Price is also voiced displeasure with continuing to say close losses are a learning experience and feels time to turn the corner.
The Titans had a goal of winning 3 out of the 4 games including the Harrah matchup last week which also added to his disappointment in the loss.
Cameron Warren took home an all-tournament selection for his outstanding play throughout the weekend. Warren averaged 24.6 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.3 steals while shooting 44 percent from the field and 77 percent from the free throw line over the weekend.
Woodberry also took home an all-tournament selection for some key plays, defense and leadership.
“We just got to come together as a team more and play a little bit harder,” said Woodberry of the loss.
Carl Albert’s next chance to come together as a team comes against Deer Creek at home Jan. 31.
