Stonewall —  

Their killer instinct returned just in time for the Coalgate Wildcats in Tuesday’s road showdown with Stonewall at the Murphy-Roberts Gymnasium.

Coalgate (11-9) saw an early 14-0 lead shrivel to 19-17 early in the third quarter, but the Wildcats regrouped and went on to a 40-30 victory over the upset-minded Longhorns behind an inspired second-half performance from senior point guard Colby Lackey.

“We’re not very good at putting people away, and we have to get past that,” Coalgate coach Kerwin Manion said after Tuesday’s win.  “Our intensity dropped in the second half.”

Stonewall’s John Clemmons scored eight straight points to start the third quarter and cut his team’s deficit to two on a putback of a miss by Dillon Monday (who had gotten a steal at the other end) on a fast break with 5:23 left in the period, and the Longhorns had a chance to tie the score or take the lead after Coalgate’s second straight turnover just seconds later.

But a steal by Dustin Ybarra gave the ball back to the Wildcats, who scored seven straight points over the next three-plus minutes to reclaim the momentum. Lackey, who scored 13 of his game-high 14 points in the second half after missing all six of his shots before intermission, started the pivotal spurt when he drained a running one-hander in the lane with 4:47 left in the period. A lay-up by Jaydin Riley off a nice assist from C. J. McClain 40 seconds later made it 23-17, then Lackey drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key off another McClain feed at the 2:12 mark to push Coalgate’s lead back to nine.

The Wildcats settled for a 26-19 advantage heading to the fourth quarter when Dakota Gore drove to the basket for a lay-up with 31 seconds left in the third, and center Trent Lackey — who had missed his first 11 shots — banked in a turnaround off a Monday assist 28 seconds into the fourth to pull Stonewall to within five at 26-21. Riley hit one of two free throws at the 6:46 mark and Colby Lackey rolled in another runner in the lane 31 seconds later to push the Coalgate lead back to eight, then the teams swapped baskets three times over the next 2:48 before a 3-pointer by Monday with 1:53 to play made it a five-point game again at 35-30.

Those were Stonewall’s last points of the night, though. Lackey hit four straight free throws over the next 1:07, and McClain added another with 26.9 seconds left to close out the scoring.

“Those first 10 minutes we just couldn’t make a shot,” Stonewall coach Wes Moreland said after seeing his club fall to 12-11 on the season. “You have to give credit to Coalgate’s defense. They just shut us down.  

“The second half we showed a lot more intensity and battled back into it,” he added.  “I think we just ran out of gas a little bit.  We had our chances, we just couldn’t finish it off.”

The Longhorns opened the game by missing their first 16 shots — nine in the first quarter, which ended with Coalgate on top, 11-0, and their first seven in the second — and trailed by two touchdowns before Gore drove the lane and hit a point-blank jumper with 2:21 left in the half.  After a Wildcat turnover, Clemmons nailed a spinning 14-footer from just inside the free throw line to make it 14-4, and Gore’s 3-pointer from the right wing off a dish from Monday with 30 seconds left pulled Stonewall to within 17-9 at intermission.

Clemmons drained a 3-pointer just 11 seconds into the third quarter, he was fouled on a floater in the lane two minutes later and added the free throw to suddenly make it a four-point game, and he wrapped up his 10-point spurt — all in a span of 4:32 — with his putback at the 5:23 mark.

Colby Lackey followed his one-point effort in the first half (when the Wildcats hit just 6-of-24 shots) by going 3-for-5 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line after the break.  He also grabbed seven rebounds, including five in the first half.

Coalgate center Lance Walker finished with 10 points to go with three blocked shots (all in the first quarter), two first-half assists and a game-high 15 rebounds, but, like his opposite number, Trent Lackey, he had a tough shooting night.  After hitting his first shot of the game, Walker missed 11 straight before connecting on three in a row in the fourth quarter and finished 4-for-18 from the field.

McClain scored six points (five in the first half) on 2-for-4 shooting and added three assists and two second-half rebounds, Brandon Jim finished with five points, two assists and a steal, and Ybarra had seven first-half rebounds and two steals to go with two points in the win.

Gore, who didn’t take a shot in the first quarter, scored 11 points over the final three on 5-of-7 shooting, and he added four rebounds and an assist.  Clemmons hit all three of his shots from inside the arc but was 1-for-7 from long range, and Monday had four rebounds, three assists and a steal to go with five points for the Longhorns, who finished 13-for-47 from the field while Coalgate hit 14-of-42 shots.

Coalgate visits Holdenville Friday, while Stonewall will entertain Wanette.