UPDATE: Cubs face Seymour Friday
UPDATE: Following Seymour's 60-50 win over Archer City Thursday night, the Olney Cubs face Seymour at a neutral site Friday with the tipoff set for 7 p.m.
The Cubs look to have a repeat of their Jan. 31, 45-40 victory over Seymour as both teams faceoff Friday inside the Windthorst High School gymnasium. The Cubs and Panthers split their two-game series this season with Seymour taking the first game 38-35 and Olney their last encounter. Should Olney win Friday, they would secure third place in the district standings. The loser of Friday's game will face Archer City Saturday to determine the fourth and final playoff spot.
OLNEY— The Cubs needed two wins in their last two games to secure a playoff spot, which they did but not the playoff they had in mind.
Following Olney’s 42-30 victory over Munday Tuesday night, the Cubs expected to find out who they would play in the opening round of the upcoming playoffs, but Seymour’s upset victory of Archer City set up a three-way tie for the third fourth and fifth spots in the district standings.
“It will be a mini tournament going Thursday, Friday and Saturday,” Olney coach Carl Pennington said. “We will not know anything until Wednesday.”
Pennington said the tournament will feature a round-robin format and coaches will meet Wednesday afternoon to flip a coin to determine the first round with the winner having a bye the first night of play.
The Cubs seem primed for whoever they face Thursday after demolishing Munday in their regular season finale. Olney faced a 4-0 deficit early, but a jumpers by senior guards Carson Fite and a close-range shot by senior forward Travis Hudson locked the game up, then senior guard Brent McCorkle, who tied Hudson for the team lead in scoring with 10, picked up three the hard way when he netted a free throw after sinking a hotly contested layup.
Although an offensive burst seemed to give the Cubs a boost, McCorkle said it was the defense the allowed Olney to distance itself early.
“We locked down on defense, then some of our layups were starting to fall in. We pulled away and stayed up. “
After going into halftime with an 11-point advantage, Fite and McCorkle took a step back, methodically working their offense and working the ball to their posts for easy scores. Hudson picked up the majority of his team-leading 10 points on a slew of easy scores underneath as the Cubs cruised to victory.
“We knew this was our game,” Hudson said. “It was our last night, senior night. We just came all out ... All we were thinking about was get in a hole, get in an open lane. We started running our offense like we’re supposed to and it worked.”
Hudson seemed in full form despite coming off a knee injury coaches felt, at the time, would potentially put him out for the rest of the season. Tuesday night was the most time on the court Hudson had seen since coming back in late January.
“It felt good to get back in and playing like I did at the begging of the season,” Hudson said. “Getting hurt sucked, but it felt good getting back to how I used to play. I just forgot about it and played.”
For the Cubs, facing Seymour and Archer City for the third and fourth time, respectively, will not be easy. The Cubs pulled off a victory against Seymour in their last encounter in late January, but have yet to best Archer City in three attempts.
“We were hoping to get another shot at them and this is our chance,” McCorkle said. “We know we can beat them. All credit to them, but [Morgan Wiley] made a lucky shot at the end. The last time we played Seymour, we took better care of the ball than when we played at Seymour. That is what we will have to focus on with them. Taking care of the ball and not letting them get out in front. As long as we take care of the ball we’ll be alright.”
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