The Tonkawa Buccaneers’ joy coming off their 68-44 District win over Mounds on Tuesday (only their second W of the season) was short lived, knowing they had to face the well-rested and very hungry Hennessey Eagles (12-4, #6) in Thursday (February 25) night’s opening round of the 2021 Oklahoma Class 2A Championship Series Regional at the Eagle Event Center in Hennessey. The Bucs opened the game with a little hope, forcing an Eagle turnover on the first possession, then taking the early lead. That lead lasted until Eagle Senior Juan Dominguez knocked down his first of 4 Three’s, giving his Eagles the lead at 11 mid-way through the 1st quarter. The Eagles never gave it back. Thanks in large part to outstanding defense in the 2nd quarter (giving up only 1 field goal and 5 total points), while posting 20 on offense, which was hammered home by a JuanDo steal and 3 point buzzer beater from the mid-court logo, the Eagles led by 20 at half, 37-17. The starters only saw minimal minutes in the 2nd half, giving way to the bench, who scored the final 26 points of the game in last 1 1/2 quarters. Leading all scorers for the Hennessey Eagles was Sophomore 6-man Layton Choate with 20, going 6 of 8 from the free-throw line, and nailing 2 Three’s, and 4 Two’s. Dominguez was the leading scorer among the starters, getting 18 points (15 in the first two quarters). Freshman Jael Torres followed with 12 points in the paint. Cristian Rodriguez had 5, Christian Tovar 2, and Wade Vinson’s technical foul shot rounded out the starter’s points. With Choate leading the way, Hennessey’s bench had 37 total points: Ethan Munroe with 5, Sebastian Gonzalez with 3, Garret Vinson, James Sims, Noah Moery, and Kolby Painter each with 2 points, and Weston Smith with 1.The Thursday night win did two things for the Hennessey Eagles. The win moves the boys to the Regional Championship game on Saturday night at 8:00 pm in the EEC versus Boone-Apache (6-11), who got the 40-37 upset win versus the Area’s 3rd best team Amber-Pocasset (15-9, #11) on Thursday night. The win also guarantees the Eagles a spot in next week’s Area Round (March 4-6) to be played at the Stride Bank Center in Enid, marking the 8th time in 10 years that head coach Brady Page’s Hennessey Eagles have advanced to Area. -EagleVoice
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