BRUINS AND LADY BRUINS HAVE TOURNEY WINS; TOURNAMENT CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER

Bartlesville High School’s Sutton Huff (32) goes to the basket during an earlier season game. The Bruins were playing in the Tulsa Rogers tournament, The last two days were cancelled due to winter weather.

BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports


By Mike Tupa

Jan. 23, 2026

BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT

It was a triumphal Thursday on the hardwood for Bartlesville High School.

In Tulsa, the Bartlesville Bruins thrived on big scoring games by Jackson Barta (18 points) and Dennis Duncan (16 points) to rocket past Tulsa Rogers, 87-42, in boys consolation action on the second day of the Rogers tourney.

To the northeast, meanwhile, the Bartlesville Lady Bruins bounced Oologah, 91-16, in the girls’ bracket on the first (and last) day of the NEO High School tourney in Miami.

The final two days of the tourney were cancelled due to the threat of severe weather arriving Friday.

The Bartlesville girls reached 10 wins for the third-straight season, their first back-to-back double-digit victory campaigns since 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Bartlesville boys bounced back from a three-game losing streak. Their scheduled Friday game also was cancelled/postponed due to the arrival of the storm.

Following are more details on Thursday’s games.

———

Bartlesville High School’s Sami Sheaffer goes after a loose ball during an earlier season game. The Lady Bruins were participating in the NEO Tournament, which was cancelled due to winter weather.

BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports

———

GIRLS: LADY BRUINS 91, OKMULGEE 16

“It was good they kept up the intensity,” said Lady Bruin head coach Justyn Shaw.

Bartlesville led at halftime, 51-11, and Shaw challenged his team to maintain the same intensity to the final buzzer.

“I told the girls sometimes it’s hard to compete when the competition is not that great,” Shaw said. “I wanted to keep up the defensive intensity.”

All eight Lady Bruins in uniform scored, led by Sami Sheaffer, Kenzie Denny, Emma Zimmerman and Cadence Gray. Rounding out the team were Shaylyn Ishem, Addison Jones, Jaylin Manley and Kenzi Stark.

Bartlesville finished 2-0 on the week. 

Next up, the Lady Bruins play host Tuesday to Muskogee in what could be a major measuring stick outing.

———

Bartlesville High School’s Tytan Berry (24) blocks out during an earlier season game. The Bruins were participating in the Tulsa Rogers Tournament, which has been cancelled due to winter weather.

BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports

———

BOYS: BRUINS 87, ROGERS 42

Bartlesville needed a while to get its offense rolling, but its defense took control early.

The Bruins (7-10) — who are coached by Jake Christenson — charged out to a 10-2 lead with four different players contributing points, including Titus Huck with four points.

Rogers got within 14-8 by the end of the first quarter, but Trey Collins erupted for eight points in the opening minutes of the second quarter to boost Bartlesville to a 22-10 lead.

Duncan scored down low — off a low post feed by Hudson Eads — to make it a 24-12 game.

But, Rogers hung around and trailed by only 10 at halftime, 40-30.

Barta put on an amazing shooting display in the third quarter by dropping in five three-pointers — one of them set up by Collins’ defensive rebound and long pass — as the Bruins bolted to a 26-point lead, 63-37.

Cameron Chambers also put together a fiery scoring spurt, downing 10 points in the final part of the fourth quarter.

Collins finished with 13 points to round out Bartlesville’s double-digit scorers.

Bartlesville has recorded its most wins in three seasons and is only three victories away from it’s first double-digit win season since 2021-22.

_____

BOYS: Tulsa McLain 74, Bartlesville 61

Whether it was the short night’s sleep or just a struggle to get in emotional focus, the Bruins scrapped valiantly but without success from an early deficit.

True, they battled back to tie the score multiple times, but just couldn't create that break-over moment when they took control.

McLain rushed out to an 11-point lead, 18-7, but Bartlesville began to slowly chew away at the margin, thanks partly to a buzzer-beating trey by Jackson Barta.

Early in the second quarter Luke Massey made a stick-back off an offensive line to narrow the margin to three points, 19-16.

But the lead quickly went back to seven, 24-17.

Bartlesville put together a 9-2 run — with two buckets by Titus Huck (one on a Duncan assist), free throws by Duncan and a three-pointer by Hudson Eads (another Duncan assist) to make the score even, 26-26.

The score would be tied again at 28-28, and Holmes made a layup to slice McLain’s lead to one point, 31-30.

By halftime, McLain had bumped its lead back to six points, 36-30.

Collins opened the second half with a three-pointer and Bartlesville went on to deadlock the score, 38-38, on a free throw by Duncan.

But McLain zipped back out to an eight-point lead, 46-38, and led at the end of the third quarter, 52-46,

McLain got back ahead by double-digits and kept that distance the rest of the way.

Unofficially, Duncan finished with 21 points, followed by Eads with 10 and Collins with nine.

Previous
Previous

BARTLESVILLE BRUINS AND LADY BRUINS FALL TO STILLWATER ON JAN. 16

Next
Next

33RD ANNUAL CANEY VALLEY TOURNAMENT STARTS A DAY EARLY DUE TO PREDICTED WINTER WEATHER