Matt Christiansen a force in McGuinness overtime victory

I’m giving myself credit. Yea, that’s right. I picked Edmond Memorial and Edmond Santa Fe on Tuesday and Stillwater and Bishop McGuinness on Friday.

Good call. One great atmosphere after another. I wrote about Cody Coyle in Saturday’s paper because he was the head-scratcher, but the Irish don’t come anywhere close to a 77-70 overtime win without Matt Christiansen.

With his running mate, Joe Edmonds, in foul trouble (had four in the third quarter) Christiansen did everything in his power to keep McGuinness in the game. He had 12 points in the first half, 17 in the second half and three in overtime for 32 points.

However, have to give credit to Connor Lamb of Stillwater. Every time it looked like the Irish faithful could relax, Lamb hit another huge three.

The first came with 1:05 left in the fourth to tie the game at 56-56. Then with 26 seconds left, it was 60-56 for the Irish and boom, Lamb hit another.

That set the stage for Austin Brinker to tie the game with about two seconds left at 61 to send us into overtime.

In OT, Christiansen had the place rockin’ with a dunk to make it 66-62. Was thinking game over at that point when Lamb hit another three-pointer. However, that’s when Coyle made his name.

Coyle, primarily a defensive stopper, was on the floor because of the injury to Miles Newcomb. The Irish were up 68-65 and just had a defensive stop. OK, slow it down, pass it around and wait for the foul. Or if you’re Coyle, bomb a three from the corner and send the place into a frenzy. Not sure what would have happened had he missed it, but he doesn’t have to worry.

McGuinness hit its free throws to earn a big win. Coach Tondrell Durham was a little more excited than I thought he’d be for this one, the win meant a lot to him.