The Henryetta Golden Knight varsity basketball team kept their season alive Monday night with a 47-43 win over Heartland Conference foe, the Eufaula Ironheads, at the Henryetta Event Center. The 4-point victory came in the consolation semifinals of the Class 3A, Area III, regional basketball tournament.

With the win over Eufaula, the Knights advanced to Tuesday afternoon’s consolation title game in Henryetta against another conference foe, the Kellyville Ponies, who staved off elimination Monday afternoon with a 65-57 win over Antlers in the other consolation semifinal game.

Results of Tuesday’s consolation championship meeting with Kellyville were not available at press-time.

The Henryetta cage squad rebounded from their 54-42 loss to Valliant in the district title game February 18 in Valliant with a thrilling 60-58 win over the Idabel Warriors this past Saturday in the consolation quarterfinals of the regional tournament.

In Saturday’s narrow victory over Idabel, the visitors came out of the opening period with a slim 16-14 advantage. The host Knights responded with their own 2-point margin in the second stanza, outscoring Idabel 14-12 in the frame to send the contest to the halftime break with the score deadlocked at 28-28.

The Henryetta cage squad took the back-and-forth third quarter 13-11 to take a 41-39 lead into the final eight minutes of regulation.

Idabel used a 17-7 run in the first half of the final quarter to lead by eight, 56-48.

The Knights battled back with a 10-2 run to tie the score at 58-58.

With 16 seconds remaining in regulation and their season on the line, Alex Hudson came away with a steal and scored a wide-open layup to put the Knights in front by two, 60-58.

Idabel had a chance to possibly force overtime with 1.5 seconds remaining in regulation, but missed a pair of charity tosses. The Warriors rebounded the second missed free throw and put up a shot attempt at the buzzer, but the short-range jumper was just off the mark to award the host Henryetta Golden Knights the thrilling 60-58, season-saving, victory

Ȧlex Hudson finished with 22 points to lead the offensive attack for Henryetta. Nick Hudson and Jordan Short joined Alex Hudson in double figures with 13 and 12, respectively. Phillip Rice and Ethan Palmer rounded out the Knight scoring with seven and six points, respectively.

In Monday’s showdown with Eufaula, the Knights came out of the opening period with a narrow 10-7 advantage, then doubled up on the Ironheads in the second quarter by a 12-6 margin to go into the halftime break in front by nine, 22-13.

Both teams tallied 10 points in the third stanza to keep the Henryetta lead at nine points, 32-23, with eight minutes remaining in regulation.

The Knights held off a fourth-quarter rally by their opponents and outscored the Ironheads 12-8 down the stretch to walk away with the 47-43 victory.

Alex Hudson was tops offensively for Henryetta on Monday, finishing with 13 points. Nick Hudson was next for the Knights with 11, followed by Jordan Short with 10. Other HHS scorers on Monday were Austin Palmer with seven, Jordan Osterdock three, Ethan Palmer two, and Phillip Rice one.

Class 3A Regional Tournament

Consolation Quarterfinals

Henryetta 60, Idabel 58

Idabel: 16 - 12 - 11 - 19 (58)

Henryetta: 14 - 14 - 13 - 19 (60)

Henryetta Scoring: Alex Hudson 22, Nick Hudson 13, Jordan Short 12, Phillip Rice 7, Ethan Palmer 6.

Consolation Semifinals

Henryetta 47, Eufaula 43

Eufaula: 7 - 6 - 10 - 20 (43)

Henryetta: 10 - 12 - 10 - 15 (47)

Henryetta Scoring: Alex Hudson 13, Nick Hudson 11, Jordan Short 10, Austin Palmer 7, Jordan Osterdock 3, Ethan Palmer 2, Phillip Rice 1.