Records fall as Oklahoma prevails

Take a seat Dwight Jones and Joe Atkinson. You’ve been ousted from the Faith 7 game record book.
In 43 years of Faith 7 basketball history, nothing rivaled — record-wise — what transpired Saturday night at Oklahoma Baptist University’s Noble Complex.
The Oklahoma squad upended its Texas counterpart, 121-101, but that wasn’t the primary storyline.
Willie Warren of North Crowley and Keiton Page of Pawnee, the Most Valuable Players for their teams, broke previous Faith 7 scoring marks.
With 41 points, Warren eclipsed the Texas scoring record set by Jones, out of Houston Wheatley, in 1970.
Page, with 37 points, toppled the Oklahoma record of 34 points established by Atkinson, a Coyle product, in 1981.
Saturday night should be the first of many Warren-Page matchups. Warren, a McDonald’s All-American, is headed to Oklahoma. Page, the state’s all-time leader in season points and average, is bound for Oklahoma State.
“I didn’t realize I had the record until I hit a field goal near the end of the game,” said Warren, who hit 14-of-26 field goals after winning the pregame slam-dunk contest. “I’ll be seeing Keiton the next few years and also Rotnei Clarke when OU plays at Arkansas next year.”
Clarke, who averaged 40.8 points this past season for Verdigris, finished with 29 points Saturday. He hit 9-of-22 shots from the field and 7-of-8 charity tosses.
Because Texas had just eight of its 10 players on hand, Warren had a 30:18 playing stint.
Page, in 24:42 of action, knocked down 11 of his 19 field goal attempts, including 4-of-10 from 3-point range. He was also 11-of-13 from the line.
“I didn’t know about the record until they announced it,” Page said. “Willie is a great player who is tough to guard.”
Page and Clarke, who are close friends, were in the game together in the fourth quarter. It was their first playing experience as teammates since their seventh-grade days in Yale.
“We had talked about it all week,” Page said. “It was real exciting when we finally got to do it.”
With Texas misfiring on its first eight field-goal attempts, Oklahoma built a 22-point (39-17) lead. That big advantage evaporated as Texas went on a 34-14 run to cut the margin to 53-51.
A 3-pointer by Tulsa Edison product Mark Rutledge right before the halftime buzzer gave Oklahoma a 60-53 lead.
Warren, who hit three consecutive 3-pointers during the Texas run, notched 25 points before intermission.
Page canned 3-of-7 shots from beyond the 3-point line in the opening half while tallying 15 points. Clarke added 12 points.
Page scored the last nine Oklahoma points of the third quarter as Texas fell into a 91-72 hole. Texas never got closer than 15 points down the stretch.
Bo Bo Morgan, a 6-foot-10-inch product of Dallas Oak Cliff and  the No. 1 rated player in Texas by TexasHoops.com, struggled early, never got in the offensive rhythm and finished with four points on 1-of-7 shooting. Morgan, who will play collegiately at UCLA, had eight rebounds.
Kevin Butler of Duncanville, who will play at TCU, was the leading rebounder in the game with 11. Midwest City’s Chuck Sanders and Tulsa  Memorial’s Blaise Staab led Oklahoma with nine boards apiece.
Rutledge and Staab posted 10 points apiece. Texas received double-figure scoring from David Kyles (19), Butler (16) and Zach Williams (11).
Texas was just 5-of-23 from 3-point range for 21.7 percent and was accurate on just 59.6 percent (34-57) of its free throws. Warren broke the scoring record despite hitting only 9-of-16 free throws.