BARTLESVILLE BRUINS AND LADY BRUINS FALL TO MUSKOGEE ON WEDNESDAY
Bartlesville High School’s Tra Collins (11) goes to the basket during an earlier season game. The Bruins lost a close one, 63-61, to Muskogee at home on Wednesday.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
Bartlesville HIgh School’s Sami Sheaffer fights towards the basket during an earlier season game. The Lady Bruins fell in overtime to Muskogee, 59-54 at home on Wednesday.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
Jan. 30, 2026
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
“It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up.”
— Vince Lombardi
“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”
— Abraham Lincoln
Regardless of what one thinks, the Bartlesville High School boys basketball team proved Wednesday night its character is the real thing.
In what has to be ranked as one of the epic rallies in Bruin Fieldhouse history, Bartlesville got off the canvas to come back from a 23-point deficit and take a three-point lead.
Unfortunately, the ending wasn’t a happy one — Muskogee clawed back to win, 63-61.
But no one could call the Bruins losers — their heart, their guts, their purpose, their drive marked them as true warriors.
In the first game of the night, the Lady Bruins also competed with steely desire but also came up just short to the Muskogee Lady Roughers, 59-54, in overtime. This was a major step-up from earlier in the season when Muskogee thumped Bartlesville, 64-45.
Following are details of each game:
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Bartlesville High School’s Shaylyn Ishem (22) fights for the ball during an earlier season game. The Lady Bruins fell in overtime to Muskogee, 59-54 at home on Wednesday.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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GIRLS: Muskogee 59, Bartlesville 54 (ot)
This competition featured the three F’s — feisty, fierce and fiery.
The first half alone included five lead changes and two ties. Sami Sheaffer erupted for 15 points in the first half to lead Bartlesville to a 27-25 advantage.
Bartlesville continued to keep a tight grip on the lead through most of the second half, working it to seven points, 47-40, following a steal and fast break by Addison Jones.
But suddenly Muskogee began a steady reversal, tying the score at 48-48. Kenzie Denny hit a layup runner to lift Bartlesville back into the lead, 50-48, with around 35 seconds left.
Muskogee hit two free throws with 22 ticks remaining to pull even at 50-50.
That’s how the game ended at regulation.
Sheaffer — who finished with 22 points, unofficially — downed a layup early in the extra period to push Bartlesville ahead, 52-50. Muskogee answered with a 7-0 run to take control. Emma Zimmerman finally broke Bartlesville’s scoring drought to cut Muskogee’s lead to 57-54, with more than a minute remaining.
Those would be Bartlesville’s final points.
Some other key buckets in the game by the Lady Bruins included a Cadence Gray jumper to elevate Bartlesville to the halftime lead; a trey by Jones in the first quarter; and a Denny layup-plus-one to flip the lead in the second quarter;
The Lady Bruins — who are coached by Justyn Shaw — are now 9-7 overall and 3-6 in district.
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Bartlesville High School’s Sutton Huff (32) goes to the basket during an earlier season game. The Bruins lost a close one, 63-61, to Muskogee at home on Wednesday.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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BOYS: Muskogee 63, Bartlesville 61
Bartlesville’s incredible rally — which included a 45-19 run that extended two quarters — can be broken down by snippets of highlights.
The Bruins hit bottom when Muskogee surged to a 35-12 lead in the latter part of the second quarter.
Luke Massey downed a deuce to cut it to 35-14 and Dennis Duncan downed two free throws to cut the margin to 19, 35-16.
But Muskogee still led by 20 at halftime, 38-18 — thanks to a buzzer-beating three-pointer.
Bartlesville — coached by Jake Christenson — continued its comeback fury to start the third quarter.
— Titus Huck scored two quick buckets, one of them set up by Duncan’s penetration and feed in the paint.
— Brycen Gutierrez came off the bench to bury a bucket and narrow the lead to 16, 41-25.
— Trey Collins went on an amazing second half scoring frenzy after having been shut out in the first half. It started with a three-pointer (set up by Duncan’s inside-out pass) to make it a 16-point game, 44-28.
— Collins hit another trey, Massey scored and Collins completed a three-point play to slice the lead to seven points, 46-39.
— Collins opened the fourth quarter with another three-pointer to squeeze the margin to six points, 50-44.
At this point, Muskogee began to dig in and slow the Bruins’ uprising — but not derail it.
With less than five minutes left, Bartlesville got within four, 54-50, after Duncan nailed two free throws.
— Bartlesville finally pulled even, 54-54, on Duncan’s layup runner.
— At the 3:22 mark, Duncan sank two free throws to give the Bruins the lead, 56-54. A little more than 10 seconds later, he netted one of the two free throws to up the Bruin lead to 57-54.
But the Bruin's amazing run then sputtered.
Muskogee put together an 8-1 lead to go up, 62-58. The Bruins answered partially with a Jackson Barta three-pointer from the corner to make it 62-61.
On the other end, Bartlesville’s Skyler Carter took a charge, giving the Bruins a chance to retake the lead in the final 20 seconds. But they missed a running layup and Muskogee got the ball back and hit a free throw with 11 seconds left to go up, 63-61.
Bartlesville worked the ball for an open three-point shot but it barely missed and Muskogee survived the gritty Bruins’ firestorm.
Unofficially, Collins finished with 17 points — all in the second half — while Huck added 12, Duncan scored 11 and Hunter Holmes contributed 10.