Arvest Bank Invitational
Bartlesville, Oklahoma
December 10th, 2004
Semifinals
8:30 p.m. - Bruin Fieldhouse
FALCONS FALL TO BRUINS!
GLENDALE FALCONS (3-1) - 45
VS.
BARTLESVILLE BRUINS (4-1) - 50
Ranked 5th in Okla. 6-A

Bruins survived grueling semifinal test
By Mike Tupa , E-E Sports Editor

Bartlesville High's hard-earned trip to
the finals included a rugged challenge
during Friday's semifinals in the Arvest
Boys Basketball Invitational.

The Bruins withstood their own frog-ugly
free throw shooting and a sweat-soaked,
energetic challenge by the under-sized
but giant-hearted brigade from Glendale
(Springfield), Mo.

Bartlesville, which endured foul trouble
by its main veterans, yanked out the
50-45 victory in the Bruin Fieldhouse.

Ben Rovenstine proved to be the axle
around which the Bruin success revolved.
The junior guard directed the offensive
assault and also punished the nets for a
team-high 19 points, including three
three-pointers.

Noah Hartsock added 16 points,
including 10 of the Bruins' first 20
points in the contest.

John McAmis paced Glendale's balanced
scoring offense with 15 points. Spud
Harbour contributed 14 points.

Bartlesville (4-1) faced its biggest
character test of the season during a
fiery Glendale resurgence in the fourth
quarter.

After three quarters, Bartlesville's
supremacy seemed assured
with a 13-point lead, 41-28.

The jerseys of almost every Glendale
player was soaked with sweat from
the neck down to the bottom hem.

Glendale's energy in the final six minutes
came from nothing else than
the unyielding desire of its players to
win.

Bartlesville, meanwhile, had to dig deep
in its own well of passion to
answer the manly challenge.

The Bruins opened the fourth quarter
with a 5-2 run in the first two
minutes. Hartsock squeezed between a
double team, caught a pass from
the high post from Sam Mitchell and
scored with about 6:10 left to give
Bartlesville its biggest advantage, 46-30.

Little did the Bartlesville players realize
then they'd soon be scrambling
to just hold on to the lead.

It didn't have to be that way, however.
Bartlesville would hit just 3-of-15 free
throws in the fourth period (9-of-27 for
the game) to keep the door open on
Glendale's rally.

And, the Missouri boys took full
advantage of their chances.

McAmis lit the fuse on Glendale's
dynamite-like comeback with a
three-pointer.

After the Bruins turned the ball back
over, Michael Frazier made a
stick-back on an offensive rebound to cut
Bartlesville's lead to 11,
46-35.

With 3:49 remaining, McAmis made a
lay-up to pull Glendale within nine points, 46-37.

Glendale got the ball back instantly,
resulting in a lay-up by Harbour to make
it a seven-point game, 46-39.

Bartlesville missed the front end of a
one-and-one with 3:09 left and Harbour
pulled down the rebound. Glendale tried
a three-pointer on the other end, but the
ball bounced off the front of the rim.

Rovenstine grabbed the deep rebound
on the miss, turned, ran up and
court and spotted Mitchell running to the
hoop. Rovenstine flung the ball to
Mitchell and he completed the transition
lay-up to push the lead back to nine,
48-39.

With 1:53 remaining, however, Glendale
had cut the margin down to five points,
48-43.

Bartlesville missed two free throws with
1:48 left and McAmis collected the rebound.

Glendale brought the ball down and
went into its perimeter offense. The
Missouri squad kept the ball moving on
the pass while its players tried
to shake free for open shots.

But, Bruin defenders did a good job of
fighting through screens and
double screens and staying tight on the
players they were guarding.

Finally, after more than a minute,
Glendale's lengthy possession paid
off with two points. Jeff Lewis received a
pass on the left wing, got a step on his
defender and blitzed to the basket for a
short shot.

The deuce cut the Bruin lead to three
points, 48-45, with 43 seconds remaining.

Bartlesville managed to break Glendale's
full-court press, forcing a foul on Rovenstine.

Rovenstine hit his first free throw to
push the lead back to four, 49-45.
His next charity offering missed, but
Bruin forward Jacob Brazda wrestled the
ball away from a Glendale player for the
offensive rebound.

The Bruins kept the ball in play and
Rovenstine was fouled again with
19 seconds remaining. He buried 1-of-2
free throws to make it a five- point
game, 50-45.

Glendale tried a quick three-point shot
on the other end, but Hartsock
was there to get the defensive rebound.

Glendale had one last chance in the
fading seconds, but missed another
long shot. Brazda pulled down the
defensive rebound just before the
buzzer sounded.

Thus ended a helter-skelter encounter
between two determined teams.

Bartlesville had led in the first quarter by
nine points, 14-5, after Rovenstine
flushed a three-pointer.

But, Glendale came back to tie the game,
14-14.

Toward the end of the quarter, Mitchell
scored to help Bartlesville take
an 18-14 lead just before the end of the
first quarter.

However, McGamis popped a
three-pointer early in the second period
to cut the lead to one point, 18-17.

Glendale eventually turned the game
around to take the lead on
Harbour's trey late in the first half, 27-25.

The Missouri boys held on to the lead at
halftime, 27-26.

Bartlesville battled back to regain the
lead, 29-27, on Rovenstine's
three-pointer early in the third quarter.

The Bruins soon pushed their advantage
to 10 points, 37-27.

Glendale came up short on offense
during one possession at this
juncture of the game when Bruin
defender Ryan Waters pressured a
Glendale player into a bad shot.

Late in the third quarter, Rovenstine and
Brazda hooked up on one of
the most crowd-pleasing shots of the
night for the swarm of Bruin
students, who stayed on their feet the
whole game.

Rovenstine, standing on the left wing,
made a high, crosscourt lob
toward the right block. Brazda,
meanwhile, jumped up, grabbed the
ball in mid-air and made the short
jumper while he was falling to the
ground.

As it turned out, every Bruin
extraordinary effort, such as this one,
would be needed to rescue the victory at
the end - especially after
Mitchell fouled out during the firestorm
of Glendale's last-ditch comeback try.

Finally, it was all done.

The Bruins had won.

It was time to move on.

Bartlesville 50, Glendale 45

Quarter Scoring Breakdown        
Bartlesville  18 8 15 9 - 50
Glendale 14 13 1 17 - 45

Bartlesville (50)
Ryan Waters 0 0-2 0
Casey Schultz 0 1-4 1
Ben Rovenstine 7 2-7 19
Jacob Brazda 1 0-0 2
Noah Hartsock 7 2-7 16
Sam Mitchell 4 4-7 12
Totals: 19 9-27 50.

Glendale (45)
Spud Harbour 3 6-6 14
John McAmis 5-35 15
Jeff Lewis 5 2-4 12
Michael Frazier 2 0-0 4
Totals: 15 11-15 45.