Chargers reach milestones in Regional Championship run

The Chargers ventured out to McLoud High School on Thursday night to take on the Verdigris Cardinals in the first game of the Regional Tournament. Heritage Hall took care of business in record-setting fashion, beating the Cardinals 88-32 in what was a very important tune-up game. The Chargers were stellar in every stage of the game as they built momentum for the Regional Championship game.

The ball was flying all over the court as 14 out of the 15 players on the roster scored at least 2 points. To start out the game, Trey Alexander hit three straight three-pointers to put the Cardinals on their heels. Alexander filled up the stat sheet with a stellar 34 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 6 steals and stuffed 2 shots en route to a statement win for the Chargers.

Senior forward Philip Smitherman once again had a big night as he dropped 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals and 1 block. Senior forward Kenneth Daughty showed out in McLoud, dropping 8 points in the victory. Jack Spanier, another senior, kept his head on a swivel, dishing out 5 assists to lead the team.

In addition to the impressive 56-point victory margin, multiple records were broken on the night. Alexander drained a single game record 10 three-pointers, which beats Les Thomas '17 previous record of 9. More impressively, Alexander also broke the Heritage Hall career scoring record, held for 42 years by Craig Brown '78 with a total of 1,676 points. Following Regional play, Trey now stands at 1,722 career points.

And to cap off the night of records, Coach Hamilton earned his 200th career win! With the victory over Verdigris, he became one of the 100 winningest coaches in Oklahoma state history.

On Saturday night, the Chargers traveled back to McLoud High School to take on the #9 Tuttle Tigers in what ended up being one of those games that you did not want to miss. While the Chargers eventually pulled out a victory with a score of 59-58, this game went quite a bit differently than Thursday's as they went from winning by 56 points to 1 point. After controlling the first half, the Chargers loosened their grip and found themselves trailing by a point heading into the last quarter. The game ended with a fourth quarter comeback and a missed tip-in at the final buzzer by the Tigers.

The crowd saw another stand out performance by Alexander as he stuffed the stat sheet with 20 points, 10 boards, 5 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks. Junior forward Joe Washington stepped up big-time with 10 points, 2 rebounds and a steal. Smitherman was all over the court on Saturday with 3 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a block as he displayed the great defensive presence that he has become known for over the past few years.

The Regional Championship was the third straight by Coach Hamilton's squads and sets up a rematch with the #7 Ada Cougars for the Area Championship on Friday at Midwest City High School at 8:00pm. In the second game of the season, the Chargers survived an early scoring barrage by Jaxson Robinson, an AAU teammate of Trey Alexander, and outlasted the Cougars for a 48-40 win. The Cougars are 20-5 entering the game, and have held their last five opponents to just 24 points per game. Friday's winner punches their ticket to State.

Onward, Chargers!

Written by Henry Jackson '21
Photos by Luke Steelman '93

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