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It wasn’t pretty but the Altus High Bulldogs defeated the Elk City Elks 46-38 in the season opener for both teams here on Friday night.

“It was about as ugly as first game can get,” AHS Head Coach Rick Bull said. “But after last year, I’m not going to complain about a win.”

The Bulldogs won despite a poor shooting shooting . There were too many fouls and at times their offense seemed out of sync.

It appeared the Bulldogs might break the game open in the third when they went on a 10-0 run. Montel Vidot hit a shot and Altus led 34-26 with 2:17 remaining in the third period.

The Bulldogs held that nine point lead until midway in the fourth quarter when a chain of events occurred that let the Elks draw closer. Imashay Shivers was assessed a foul and a technical foul. Cameron Love hit two free throws and Shane Thornton made both technical shots and Elk City trailed only 41-36. It could have been worse because the Elks got the ball out of bounds and with a three-point shot could had cut their deficit to two points. However, the Elk turned the ball over.

Altus then put the game away in the waning moments. Malik Knight hit a shot with thirty seconds left to give AHS a 46-38 margin. That was too much for the visitors to overcome.

“We actually played well the first five or six minutes of the game,” Bull said. “We had a 10-2 lead and we get amnesia and forget how we got that lead. Our poor decision making kept them in the ball game.”

Senior Kasen Warren led Altus with 14 points but no one else was in double figures. Cameron Rodgers paced the Elks with 10 points.

Notes: The unusual part of the game is that neither team hit a three point shot in the game. “That’s unheard of even in a seventh grade game,” Bull said.

It is believed that its been years since the Bulldogs have never made a shot beyond the arc in a game.

The Bulldogs were to have hosted Anadarko on Friday. That game has been postponed because the Warriors football team is playing for the Class 4A state title on Friday night. The game has been rescheduled for Dec. 17.

Altus will return to play Tuesday when they travel to Elgin.

Altus 46, Elk City 38

Boys

Altus - Ybarra 2-1-5, Shivers 4-1-9, Woodhosue 2-0-4, Warrenn3-8-14, Knight 3-0-6, Vidot 1-2-4, Cross 2-0-4. Totals 17-12-46

Elk City - Patton 0-1-1, Love 1-5-7, Rodgers 3-4-10, Walker 3-0-6, Thornton 1-4-6, Kelley 4-0-8

Altus12 12 12 10 - 46

Elk12 1169 - 38