Stilwell Basketball State Tournament History
By Gregg Stilwell
For the first time in the 83 year history of Stilwell basketball, both the boys and girls will be playing in the State Tournament when it tips off next Thursday.

The boys will be making their third trip to the State Tournament, with the previous appearances coming in 1939 and 1968.

The girls will be participating in their ninth State Tourney. Previous visits were in 1972, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1988, 1989, 1992 and 1997. The girls won the Class 2A State Championship in 1978 and 1979.

Stilwell's first State qualifiers, the 1938-39 Indians, started off the season by winning the Warner College Tournament and added the Northeastern State College trophy to their hardware collection, on the way to a 15-1 start. Stilwell looked to be a lock to win the NOAA title, but lost three in a row to teams the Stilwell DJ referred to as "NOAA also rans".

Stilwell sported a 15-4 record headed into the Regional playoffs at McAlester. The Indians would beat Sallisaw 29-18 in the opening round of the single elimination tournament and the host Buffaloes in the semi-finals by a 28-26 margin.

The "Big Red" hoopsters would win a Class A State Tournament berth by downing Holdenville 34-30.

Ardmore would be the Indian's opponent in the first round at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds. The Tigers would beat Stilwell by a 32-28 score but were eliminated themselves in the next round by eventual State Champion Tulsa Central.

The 1938-39 team was led by Senior Joe Fletcher, who would go on to play basketball for Henry Iba at Oklahoma A&M in the 1939-40 and 1940-41 seasons, before joining the Navy in 1941, where he served in the Submarine Corps in WW II.

Other stars of the team were Jack Gaines, Pete Lane, Doyle Starr, Feron Waters and Red Watkins. The Indians were coached by future Hall of Famer Kester "Tractor" Trent.

It would be 29 years before any Stilwell team would return to the State Tournament. The 1967-68 Indians, under the guidance of second year head coach Ray Firth broke the drought. Stilwell was ranked # 1 in pre-season 2A polls, but were picked to finish second in the NOAA conference to Class A # 1 ranked Checotah. The Indians would win their first eight games before that streak was snapped by the Wildcats 63-57. Stilwell would end the regular season with a record of 17-4.

The Indians would travel to the Tulsa Fairgrounds for a special one game playoff against Miami, in which the winner would advance to State while the loser would be forced to go through the Regional playoffs in order to qualify. Stilwell would defeat the Wardogs 60-56, with Senior Jim Limore leading the Indians in scoring with 19, followed by Leroy Soap with 17, Carlos Crittenden 15, Emmett Sawney 4 and Dan Abbott 2.

Guthrie would provide the opponent in the opening round of the Class 2A championships. Despite 17 points from Limore, who would become Stilwell's first, and thus far only, All-State boys basketball player, the eventual State Champion Blue Jays won easily 80-59.

Joe White, who at the time was Stilwell's head football coach, would make history at the tournament by becoming the Indians first radio play-by-play announcer. White's broadcast of the Guthrie game could be heard on Stilwell cable television channel 4 and also at the Stilwell Junior High Cafetorium, where 65 fans gathered to listen over a closed circuit.

INDIANS WIN 2000 "PUBLIC SCHOOL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP"
By Keith W. Neale
Article Courtesy of the Stilwell Democrat-Journal
The Stilwell boys basketball team proved they were the best public school in Class 4A, but could not keep up with a private school from Oklahoma City and finished as the State-Runner Up. The Indians who closed at 25-3. defeated Weatherford 69-56 and Vinita 61-58 in overtime, before falling to OC Bishop McGuinness 80-47 in the Oklahoma State Finals.

"We knew going into the playoffs the we were all playing for second place," said Stilwell coach Larry Callison, speaking of the McGuinness team which had won the Class 4A title for three years in a row and defeated the Class 6A and Class 5A champions by over 20 points. "But I don't think the boys would trade the experience of running through the tunnel at Lloyd Noble Arena in the finals for anything in the world. I was just tickled that we got as far as we did. Our kids were overachievers."

STILWELL 69 WEATHERFORD 56
The Indians picked-up their first boys basketball state tournament victory in school history Thursday afternoon at a packed Sawyer Center on the campus of Southern Nazarene.

The Eagles would open the final stanza with a three-pointer for a 47-45 lead, but it was their last hurrah. Junior Roger Minor hit on back-to-back three-point goals, followed by a driving layup by Senior Dusty "Boo" Eubanks for a 53-47 lead.

Weatherford, who would close at 22-6, would hit a final three-point bucket at 4:08 to pull within 53-50, but would get no closer. Eubanks would score at 3:50 and Senior Center Curtis Brashear scored on a tip-in at 3:13 to push the Indians' lead to 57-50. The Eagles would miss a long shot on their next trip down the court and had to start fouling to stop the clock. Junior Jordan Mink, Minor, and Senior Joe Fletcher would combine to make 12 of 14 free throws the rest of the way to put the game out of reach.

Jordan Mink led Stilwell with 26 points, followed by Boo Eubanks with 14, Curtis Brashear with 12, Roger Minor 12, and Joe Fletcher 5.

STILWELL 61 VINITA 58 ( overtime )
The Indians final victory of the 1999-2000 season was probably their most exciting as they edged the number-two ranked Hornets last Friday night before 4,400 fans at the Sawyer Center.

Consecutive steals by Fletcher and Mink would key the Indians overtime victory. After an exchange of scores left the score knotted at 50-50, Fletcher would steal the ball at half court and go in for a score at the 2:12 mark. The Hornets couldn't hang on to the ball on their next trip down the floor. Mink wrestled the ball away from his opponent near the mid-court line and also drove down for a score, and Stilwell's lead was now 54-50 with 1:51 left in the extra session.

Minor would connect on 3 of 4 free throws to complete the 7-0 run, but Vinita would not give up. Three-point buckets by the Hornets, their eighth and ninth of the contest, had Vinita within 59-56 at the 20 second mark, but Stilwell was able to run 10 seconds off the clock before Mink was fouled. He converted on both attempts from the charity stripe and Vinita would hit one final shot at the buzzer to set the final score at 61-58.

Jordan Mink led the victors with 15, followed by Roger Minor with 13, Boo Eubanks 13, Curtis Brashear 12 and Joe Fletcher 8.

OC McGUINNESS 80 STILWELL 47
The Indians were not able to overcome their worst period of the season and lost to the number one ranked Irish in the Class 4A State Championship Game before an estimated crowd of 6,000 at the Lloyd Noble Center on the campus of the University of Oklahoma.

The Indians stayed with McGuinness, rated as the number four team in the nation, for one period, but lost their legs in the second frame and did not score a point as they went 0-13 from the field, and 0-3 from the free throw line, including a couple of technical fouls against McGuinness. Stilwell held the Irish without a point for three minutes, but Senior guard Blake Slavonic would can four three-point bombs in a three minute span and McGuinness would take a 41-15 lead into the locker room.

Guards Roger Minor and Jordan Mink each scored 11 points to lead Stilwell, followed by Joe Fletcher with 6, Boo Eubanks 6, C.J. Morrison 6, Curtis Brashear 4, Jeremy Fourkiller 2 and Matt Brunk 1.


2001 INDIANS ADVANCE TO STATE SEMI-FINALS
By Keith W. Neale
Article courtesy of the STILWELL DEMOCRAT-JOURNAL
For the second straight season Stilwell saw their boys basketball season end with a loss to OC Bishop McGuiness, but this year in the Class 4A State semi-finals. The Indians had defeated Anadarko 51-48 in the opening round
last Thursday night. Stilwell also finished with a 25-3 mark for the season straight season.

"I don't think anyone thought that a team that didn't have a starter bigger than 6-2 and whose center is 5-11 could advance to the state semi-finals," said Indians head basketball coach Larry Callison, whose has a record of
50-6 in two seasons with Stilwell. "I think these boys over achieved and played about as well as they could."

Stilwell 51 Anadarko 48
The Indians went on a 10-0 run in the final stanza to come from behind and defeat the Warriors before over 4,000 fans at the State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City Thursday night.

Stilwell trailed 46-39 after Anadarko's sixth and final three of the night with 7:33 on the clock.  Back-to-back scores by Grant Callison and Jordan Mink had cut the deficit down to 46-42 at 6:35. The Warriors then decided to run off some of the clock and ran exactly a minute off the clock only to have it end with a Mink steal and a feed to Jeff Bigfeather for a score.

The Warriors would then run the clock down to 4:35 only to see this possession end when Callison drew a charging call in the paint. Bigfeather would once again get the ball inside for a score to knot the game at 46-46.

Anadarko once again attempted to run some time off the clock, but Sundown Watie would come up with the ball and it was the Indians turn to run some clock. Stilwell kept the sphere from 3:20 till 2:10 when Minor attempted a hree-pointer from the corner. The senior missed, but Mink got the rebound and the Indians once again ate some clock before Mink attempted a three and missed, but Minor was there for the rebound this time and he passed to Callison at the top of the key who nailed his three to put the Indians ahead for good 49-46 at 1:40.

Anadarko scored their final points at 1:26 and the Indians went into their spread offense clinging to the one-point lead. The Warriors could not stop the clock until fouling Minor with :35.6 on the clock. Stilwell's leading foul shooter missed the front end of the one and one, and Anadarko chose to try and go for the game-winning shot, but they never got the chance as Mink came up with a steal at midcourt and scored a layup with a dozen ticks left on the clock for a 51-48 lead.

The Warriors raced down court attempting to get off a game-tying three, but Minor was the one who came up with the theft this time, intercepting a pass along the side line and calling a time-out just before he stepped out of bounds with :03 remaining. Mink would inbounds the ball to Minor who would run out the clock for the victory.

Anadarko had opened the game connecting on back-to-back threes to take an early 8-2 lead, before Stilwell answered with a 12-2 run to go ahead 14-10.Minor started with a pair of points from the charity stripe, followed by back-to-back buckets by Callison. Bigfeather would make a bucket at 3:25,and then a free throw at 2:39. The senior center missed the second one, but Mink grabbed the rebound and scored. Watie would then complete the run with a single at 1:30 before the Warriors scored the final bucket of the frame to cut the lead down to 14-12.

Callison's three made the score 17-13 at 7:14, but Anadarko would come back with a 12-5 outburst to take a 25-22 advantage at 3:44. A field goal by Callison and a free throw by Jon Minor put the Indians back on top 26-25 at 1:54, but the Warriors would end the first half with a 7-2 run to take a32-28 lead into the locker room.

Stilwell would score the first three hoops of the second half, but it would take them almost five minutes to do it as Anadarko opened the second half, spreading the court. Mink's rebound basket at 3:35 had the Indians on top 34-32, but the Warriors would respond with their hottest outburst of the contest as they went on an 11-3 streak to take a 43-37 advantage into what would turn out to be Anadarko's final quarter of the season.

"Our defense really came through for us," said Callison. "Sundown, Roger and Jordan all made some big steals for us when we had to play man-to-man defense."

Mink led Stilwell with 16 points, followed by Callison with 14, Minor 12,Bigfeather 7, Watie 1, and Jon Minor 1. Shane Reed led the Warriors with11, followed by Gilbert Tsatoke with 9.

OC McGuiness 68, Stilwell 58
The Indians hung tough but could not overcome foul trouble and the outside shooting of the eventual champ Irish in the semi-finals Friday night at the State Fair Arena.

Both Nathan Eubanks and Jordan Mink fouled out, while Jeff Bigfeather had four fouls. Grant Callison would not foul out, but was hit with two quick fouls, one which appeared to be charging, and the other when it looked like he had come up with a clean steal, and would spend most of the second period on the bench. The Irish would also continue their deadly eye against the Indians as they nailed 10 threes through three periods, and did not attempt one in the final stanza.

Roger Minor started the game with his usual three and also connected inside the line as Stilwell took an early 5-3 lead. Back-to-back buckets by Mink would propel the Indians to a 13-12 advantage after the first period.

Minor would drive in for a bucket, and then make a three, and Eubanks would make one from the charity stripe as Stilwell clung to a 19-18 advantage, but the Merritt brothers, sophomore Joe Ross and senior J. Robert would hit back-to-back threes midway through the second period to give McGuiness a24-19 lead which they never relinquished. The Indians would score only six more points the rest of the frame, all by Mink, and trailed 33-25 at the half.

Three's of one kind or another would keep the Indians in the contest in the third period. Minor had a three-point play and a three, while Mink also hit from behind the arch as the Irish took a 47-38 lead into what would be Stilwell's final quarter of the season.

McGuiness would score the first 8 points of the frame to go up 55-38, but the Indians had one last rally thanks to the "M&M" boys. Minor started the13-0 run with a three, followed by one from Mink. A trio of buckets by Minor and three free throws by Mink cut the deficit down to 55-51. Stilwell would then miss a couple from the charity stripe while McGuiness would finish with a 13-7 streak for the victory. Mink led Stilwell with 25 points, followed by Minor with 23, Eubanks 5 and Watie 5.

"We were just outmanned against McGuiness," said Callison. "In a game like this, we need to get the breaks, and didn't get them. The Irish were not as dominant as they were last year and I think we had a shot at beating them if we played like we did against Wagoner in the Regional finals." Callison said there was a group of teary Indians in the locker room after the semi-finals.
"Grant thought it was his fault we lost, but I told him we wouldn't have made it this far without him," he said. "He had a 6-6 kid guarding him most of the night, and poor Jeff inside was just so outmanned. I thought Nathan played well and our sixth man Sundown Watie played so well throughout the playoffs. And Roger and Jordan pulled their weight. These young men just had so much heart."