But, El Reno's Cory Mondorf hit a shot with 3.5 seconds left in the game to give the Indians a 55-53 victory over the Bulldogs in the first round of the Class 5A regional basketball tournament Friday night at the John Marshall High School gym.
It didn't look like it was going to go down the final seconds early in the third quarter. El Reno built a 40-24 lead and the Bulldogs weren't playing well at the time.
Altus was still trailing by 10 at 48-38 with six minutes left in the game.
It was then the Bulldogs turned its defensive pressure up a notch, forcing the Indians to take bad shots and also causing several turnovers.
In less than three minutes Altus ran off 12 unanswered points. Two baskets by James Lewis, a three-pointer by Dan Goodson, a basket by Raegan Vaughan made it 48-47, and when Goodson connected on another three-point shot with 3:03 left, the Bulldogs led 50-48.
"We gave ourselves chances and that's all you can ask for after you get down 16," said Altus High head coach Ricky Bull.
El Reno tied it on a pair of free throws by Mondorf. It went down to the final seconds with the scored tied at 53-53 and El Reno in possession of the basketball.
Mondorf took the ball at the head of the circle, penetrated the lane and hit a spinning jump shot with 3.5 second left in the game.
Altus called timeout with two second left. They came out of the huddle but Bull said he was forced to call another timeout when someone lined up wrong on the inbound pass.
Altus came back on the court and El Reno elected to play a man to man defense.
Grant Kincannon threw a perfect floor-length pass to Goodson who had beaten the defender. Goodson caught the pass in the lane, dribbled once and hurried up a shot that rimmed off giving El Reno the game.
It was no surprise that the play went to Goodson because he had four game winning last second shots during the regular season.
"I though he was going to hit it," said Bull.
The Bulldogs lost both of their post players in the fourth quarter. Raegan Vaughan fouled out with 3:29 left in the game and Braden Cunningham left the game because of fouls in seconds later.
Free throws also played an important role in the game. El Reno hit seven of nine opportunities down the stretch while Altus was two of five.
Goodson led the Bulldogs in scoring. He hit four three-pointers and scored 18 points.
Altus finished its season with a 9-14 season record. Bull said he was disappointed that the seniors ended their high school careers the way they did
"I'm proud of them They did everything you could asked for and gave us a chance to have a good team. I think they deserved a better outcome than tonight. I think we had a better ball club than what our record shows."
El Reno 55, Altus 33
Boys
Altus - Lewis 2-4-8, Mustard 2-1-6, Kincannon 2-0-4, Cunningham 3-3-9, Goodson 6-2-18, Vaughan 4-0-8. Totals 19-10-53. 3 point goals - Mustard, Goodson 4.
El Reno - Carter 4-0-8, Lonelodge 2-0-6, Rednose 1-0-3, Mondorf 3-5-11, Maul 5-8-18, Chapel 2-0-5, , Palmer 0-2-2, Von Tungeln 1-0-2. Totals 13-15-55. 3 point goals - Lonelodge 2, Rednose, Chapel.
Altus 13 10 11 19 - 53
El Reno 18 16 10 11 - 55
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